The Criterium du Dauphine is often touted as the warm-up race for the Tour de France, but the Tour de Suisse, which overlaps with the Dauphine, is also a favourite of those targeting Le Tour in July.
Rui Costa used the Tour de Suisse to great effect last year, winning the general classification in that race before going on to win two stages at Le Tour de France, both of them solo. He would seem to be in promising form ahead of this year’s Tour as well.
Of the big-name sprinters likely to feature at Le Tour, Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale) featured at the Tour de Suisse this year, with both riders winning a stage.
And while world time trial champion Tony Martin (OPQS) will only get one race against the clock to flex his muscle at this year’s Tour de France, he’ll go into that stage as one of the favourites. Martin won both ITTs at the Tour de Suisse, including the lumpy seventh stage which bears some similarity to the stage 20 ITT in this year’s Tour (despite the former being less than half the length).
Beyond his two stage victories at the Tour de Suisse, Martin rode well throughout to defend the overall lead he took on stage 1 all the way through to the final stage. This included an impressive seventh place on the summit finish to the ski resort of Verbier on stage 8, a stage won by Orica-GreenEdge’s Esteban Chaves.
But in the end it was Rui Costa who took his third Tour de Suisse title in a row after getting in a decisive breakaway on the final stage. He’ll be one of many exciting prospects to watch at this year’s Tour de France and you’d expect him to be targeting stage wins again.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the following images from this year’s Tour de Suisse.
Stage 9: Martigny > Saas-Fee - Stage Result
Sunday 22nd June 2014
| 1. |  |
COSTA Rui
Lampre-Merida
|
04:13:14 |
| 2. |  |
MOLLEMA Bauke
Belkin-Pro Cycling Team
|
0:14 |
| 3. |  |
FRANK Mathias
IAM Cycling
|
0:24 |
- Tony Martin (Omega Pharma - QuickStep) won the stage 1 prologue by 6 seconds over Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) and 13 seconds over Rohan Dennis. Tony Martin went on to wear the leaders jersey until the final stage.
- Cam Meyer, Philip Deignan (Sky) and Larry Warbasse (BMC) were part of an early six-man escape group on stage 2 that became three when Warbasse launched an attack on the day’s final climb, 30km from the finish. Deignan followed the move and while Meyer was initially dropped, he made his way back to the two leaders on the descent. It was Warbasse who launched his sprint first when it came to the dash for the line, but Meyer came from third wheel to take his first win for the season. “This is a significant win for me,” said Meyer, who retired from the Giro d’Italia after just seven stages. “I really wanted to bounce back and come back strong in the second part of the season. This is a great way to start that.”
- Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge) took stage 2 victory after outsprinting breakaway companions Philip Deignan (Sky) and Larry Warbasse (BMC).
- Peter Sagan (Cannondale) took his sixth victory of the year, winning the sprint from a splintered field at the end of a hilly stage 3.
- Koen de Kort on Mark Cavendish’s wheel on stage four.
- The peloton going through the feedzone on stage 4.
- Mark Cavendish showed he is in strong form ahead of the Tour de France when he blasted to victory on stage four of the Tour de Suisse. Cavendish had a strong leadout from Mark Renshaw, who jumped on the Giant-Shimano train inside the final kilometre, then sped across the line in Ossingen lengths ahead of Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar Team), Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) and Milan-San Remo winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha).
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- Mark Cavendish celebrates his stage four win with teammate Tom Boonen. Boonen will not be starting the Tour de France.
- After successfully avoiding a crash in the final 500m that claimed stage 4 winner Mark Cavendish (OPQS), Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) proved fastest in a reduced bunch sprint to win stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse. Stage 3 winner Peter Sagan (Cannondale) was second while John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) was third. Orica-GreenEdge’s Matt Goss crashed out of contention on the stage.
- The stage winnings for stage five winner Sacha Modolo.
- Tony Martin in the leaders jersey on stage 6.
- Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) won the sprint finish on stage 6 after benefiting from the hard work of teammate and overall race leader Tony Martin.
- Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) wins the sprint finish on stage 6.
- Rui Costa starting the ITT on stage seven where he came third behind Tony Martin 28 and Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano).
- Roman Kreuziger coming across the finish line in the stage 7 ITT, 1:36 behind Tony Martin.
- Andy Schleck rode to 54th position in the ITT.
- Tony Martin starts the ITT in the leaders jersey and goes on to extend his lead with the stage win.
- Bauke Mollema riding to 21st place in the ITT.
- Tony Martin wins the stage seven ITT over the 24.7km course and extends his overall lead.
- Tony Martin on the podium after winning stage 7.
- The riders await the start of stage 8 in Delemont.
- One kilometre from the summit of the Verbier on stage 8, Esteban Chaves made his move, going on to win the stage. “Before I did my attack, the other guys had already gone,” explained Chaves. “When they came back, I saw my opportunity. I knew I had only one shot. I made a really strong attack in the last kilometre before the top.”
- Esteban Chaves scored his second win of the season on stage 8 when he soloed to victory in Verbier with a perfectly timed attack on the hors categorie alpine climb.
- Tony Martin, Rui Coasta, Philip Deigan and a select group of others come in 17 seconds behind Chaves, with Martin holding on to the yellow jersey.
- Tony Martin collapses from his effort at the top of Verbier.
- Esteban Chaves on the podium after his win.
- Bauke Mollema (Belkin) continues to impress in the lead-up to the Tour de France, finishing second on the final stage, 14 seconds behind Costa, and third overall.
- Tony Martin was caught out when Rui Costa made it into the day’s breakaway. The race leader and world time trial champion finished more than three minutes back, losing his overall lead.
- Rui Costa attacked on the final climb of the day …
- … put some time into his breakaway companions …
- … before going on to win the stage and the race overall.
- Rui Costa, winner of the 2014 Tour de Suisse.