2019 Tour de Suisse Stage 7 Results & Recap
Stage 7 of the 2019 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
Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) stomped his authority on the Tour of Switzerland today while wearing the yellow jersey. The 22-year-old Colombian attacked on the final climb of Gotthard Pass to gain time on his nearest GC rival, Rohan Dennis (TBM), before tomorrow’s time trial.
Bernal now leads the race by 41 seconds ahead of Dennis. Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) is third at 1’13”.
“I’m really happy for the win today,” Bernal said in the team’s release. “I won last year in the TT at the Tour of Romandie, so it’s nice to win again in Switzerland. It was difficult to know because you never know how well your opponents are going but I felt really good. I said to the guys and like always they did a fantastic job. I won the stage for them and it feels really nice. \n \n“[My team-mates] were full gas and it was really hard to stay with them in the wheels. But I tried to stay calm and in the final it was the best decision. We made a good pace and at the end everyone went full gas.\n \n“[Dennis] is the world champion in the TT. For sure tomorrow I will lose time to him. I hope to not lose too much time, but we have another mountain stage on Sunday. We will do our best and control what we can control.”
After a fast start to today’s 216 km stage, the longest in this year’s Tour of Switzerland, eight riders escaped off the front: Steve Morabito (GFC), Koen Bouwman (TJV), Winner Anacona (MOV), Mathias Frank (ALM), Gino Mäder (TDD), Michael Albasini (MTS), Tsgabu Grmay (MTS) and Lukasz Wisniowski (CCC). They stayed off the front until the category one climb over the old pass road via La Tremola, where Team Ineos began to crank up the pace.
One by one, the breakaway was brought back with Frank the last rider standing. Luis Mas attacked first and gained some time on the GC group, but when Bernal finally accelerated, he caught and passed the Deceuninck rider like he was standing still.
"I told my teammates to go full gas. They did their job perfectly. I dedicate this victory to them. Without their commitment, this win would not have been possible," said Bernal.\n
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