2018 Tour de Suisse Stage 7 Results & Recap
Stage 7 of the 2018 Tour de Suisse is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Quintana climbs to victory at Tour de Suisse
Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) surprised everyone at the Tour de Suisse today with an attack 30 kilometres out from the finish, revealing his excellent form in the lead up to the main event of the summer, the Tour de France.
Unable to respond to the Colombian’s speed, Richie Porte (BMC Racing Team) did damage control and finished third at 22 seconds. Last year’s winner of the Criterium du Dauphine, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) led the BMC over the line to take second place.
“I wanted to see what my real form was, and fortunately, I’m feeling great at the moment,” Quintana said after the stage. “The team’s work was really good, with everyone taking efforts from the very beginning of the stage and as far as they could. We put Bennati to push at the front of the bunch on the flat before the climb, trying to keep the breakaway close and taking advantage from VĂctor’s position to bridge back and get further. De la Parte was fundamental up there on the flat between the climbs, pushing as much as he could for as long as possible. And in the end, it was my task – Mikel was also trying to attack the GC group and destroy the pace by BMC, just like I asked him to do.”
When Quintana went on the bottom of the last 27 kilometre climb to the summit of Arosa, Porte luckily had Greg Van Avermaet with him to take care of the pace making. Little by little, the BMC riders made their way through the remnants of the early breakaway of 29 to make it to within 20 seconds of the Movistar rider. Porte now leads the Tour de Suisse by 17 seconds, meaning it will all come down to the 34 kilometre time trial on the final day.
“That was a long climb and I don’t think we ever expected Nairo to go that early but that’s racing," Porte said. "I wasn’t expecting an attack so early on the bottom of the climb but I had Tejay there with me and then a super Greg Van Avermaet, who did a fantastic job for me. I didn’t stress too much and I gave it everything so, hats off to Nairo, he was super strong today and I think he thoroughly deserved the stage win. I lost some time on the GC but I’m still looking forward to the time trial. We’ve still got to get through tomorrow’s stage but I think normally I am not a bad time trialist so, I’m here to try and win this race and I think it is looking good now. I’m happy with where my form is at. I was good yesterday as well and I hope to have the legs that I need for Sunday.”
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