Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) proved unbeatable once more as he took his third victory in four stages of the Tour de Suisse between Aarberg and Trimbach-Olten, as heavy rain fell on the race once more. The Slovakian champion launched his sprint early, in reaction to a late attack from Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing) and, despite a number of riders lined up on his wheel, was unchallenged on his way to the line.
José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) managed to position himself on Sagan’s wheel as he surged towards the line, but that was where the Spanish champion stayed as he was unable to come around. Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge), who had been one of a number of Swiss attackers in the stage’s hilly finishing circuit, took third.
"I don’t know how it would have gone without the super work done by Moreno [Moser]," said Sagan afterwards. "He shut down every attack at the end of the race, letting me do the sprint I wanted; big thanks to Moreno and I hope I can return the favour soon.
"At the start I didn’t know quite what to expect from today’s race," he explained. "The weather and the pace of the race made for a tight stage that was difficult to manage. I tried to save as much energy as possible hoping for a small bunch finish. The final sprint wasn’t easy to set up because there wasn’t a proper train. Holding onto to the first positions was crucial, and then I took my chance when Burghardt jumped and accelerated so no one could catch me.
"This is a happy period as everything I try works out alright," he added. "I know it won’t always be like this so I’ll capitalise on every opportunity while I can."
After several unsuccessful breaks in the first half of the 188.8km stage, a nine-man group managed to get clear on the Scheltenpass, the main climb of the day at the midway point. In the group were Swiss riders Martin Kohler (BMC Racing) and Grégory Rast (RadioShack-Nissan), along with Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Sébastien Minard (AG2R La Mondiale), Sergio Paulinho (Saxo Bank), Javier Megias (Team Type 1-Sanofi), Brian Vandborg (Spidertech p/b C10), Dario Cataldo (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Mathew Hayman (Team Sky).
The group managed to get a maximum of three minutes clear, over the top of the climb, putting Cataldo in the virtual race lead for much of the stage. The Italian struck out alone on the finishing circuit, but was caught and passed by Lars Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky), with Martin Elmiger (AG2R La Mondiale) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) in pursuit.
The three new breakaways were never able to get more than 40 seconds clear however, and they were steadily closed down and caught with just under three kilometres to go. There were some attempts to escape in the closing stages, including attacks from Valdimir Gusev (Katusha) and Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM), but the peloton entered the finishing straight all together.
Burghardt tried to surprise the sprinters, but his jump only served as a lead out for Sagan, who took the easiest of his three victories so far.
All of the overall contenders finished together in the peloton again, so there were no changes at the top of the general classification, with stage two winner Rui Costa (Movistar) holding his yellow jersey for another day.
More hills, more attacks, and lots more rain
More hills awaited the Tour de Suisse peloton on stage four. After a rolling start it was to tackle the 1051 metre high 1st category Scheltenpass after 81.5km, but it would be the series of short, sometimes sharp, hills inside the 42.3km finishing circuit that would make all the difference.
There were a number of attacks in the early stages, with a group that included Albasini, Kohler, Rojas, Francesco Gavazzi (Astana), Jérémy Roy (FDJ-BigMat), Zdeněk Štybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), and Tom Peterson (Garmin-Barracuda) getting almost a minute clear in the opening 50km. Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Laurent Didier (RadioShack-Nissan) briefly tried soon afterwards, as did Albasini and Burghardt, but it was not until the climb to the Scheltenpass began after 70km, that the nine-rider break got away.
Cataldo was just 1’15” behind Costa in 21st place and, as they made their way up the climb, he quickly moved into the virtual lead overall. Over the top they were three minutes ahead, but Movistar was clearly concerned about the Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider and began to gently close it down from this point on.
Across the finsih line with the final lap to go, the nine were still 2’10” ahead but, on the climb of the Unter Hauenstein, with 38km to go, Kohler attacked. The BMC Racing rider was closed down the first time, but his second acceleration could only be followed by Vandborg, Paulinho and Megias. The peloton was now just 1’14” behind over the top however, with Astana and Orica-GreenEdge lending Movistar a hand at the front.
The Swiss mix it up on the finishing circuit but it’s a Norwegian that gets away
On the small, unclassified climb that followed, Matthias Frank (BMC Racing), wearing the best Swiss rider’s jersey attacked, and compatriot Albasini went with him. They quickly passed Hayman, and were soon joined by Jakob Fuglsang (RadioShack-Nissan) and Roman Kreuziger (Astana), but Costa himself pulled the peloton back up to them.
Over the top however, Albasini and Frank attacked again, and passed Perez; the remaining seven were now together again up the road, but were just 22 seconds ahead.
With 29km to go, both of the Swiss chasers caught up with the leaders but, on the steep, unclassified climb to Oltingen, Cataldo jumped away. The front of the peloton pulled up to the rest of the breakaway group, leaving just the Italian ahead. With the attack from Albasini and Frank neutralised, and with only the Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider up the road, the peloton relaxed; Nordhaug took his chance and tried to jump across the 17-second gap.
As Astana and RadioShack-Nissan calmly led the peloton down the wet descent, the gap to Cataldo grew to 21 seconds, with Nordhaug joining him with 25km to go. The Norwegian struck alone immediately, and left the Italian behind. Elmiger then attacked the peloton, with Van Avermaet following, and they made it across to Cataldo. They had the peloton on their heels however, but Nordhaug was now 25 seconds clear as he hit the foot of the Salhöhe climb with 20km to go.
Three in the lead but with very little chance of success
Finally, Elmiger and Van Avermaet dropped Cataldo, and the duo was just 13 seconds behind Nordhaug over the top, with the peloton at 24 seconds. Over the intermediate sprint, in Erlinsbach with 10.7km to go, Nordhaug was 14 seconds ahead of his two pursuers, with the peloton now 40 seconds behind. Gradually Elmiger and Van Avermaet inched their way towards the Team Sky rider, but with eight kilometres to go he was still twelve seconds ahead.
With none of the three any danger overall, the Movistar team appeared to have switched off, but Liquigas-Cannondale, Garmin-Barracuda and Astana were now leading the chase. As the three riders up ahead came together at the five kilometre banner however, they still had 35 seconds, but this was cut to just ten at the four kilometre one.
With three to go they were barely clear, but refusing to surrender; as Van Avermaet tried to jump away however, Elmiger sat up, and the other two were caught shortly afterwards. There were some attempts to escape from Gusev and Hoogerland, but Liquigas-Cannondale was now organised on the front and nobody could get away.
Into the finishing straight Burghardt jumped away, but Sagan was right on his wheel and, as he cruised past the German, he glanced behind to see that nobody could compete with him once again.