Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) won the seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse between Vaduz, Liechtenstein, and Serfaus, Austria, after escaping the rest of a large breakaway group with less than 25km to go. The 24-year-old Belgian managed to hold off a strong pursuit from Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) on the final climb, which topped out just before the finish, to take the victory alone, 35 seconds clear of the Tour de France favourite.
José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) finished third after 48 seconds, just ahead of Chiristian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervélo), with the rest of the breakaway group scattered behind them.
At 222.8km the seventh stage was the longest of the race and, while it was not, on paper, as tough as the previous mountain stage, the hors category Flüelapass with just under 100km to go would cause a number of riders problems. The 2nd category Norbertshöhe, as the race crossed the border into Austria, could offer a chance to a breakway, while the finish in Sefaus, shortly after the summit of the 1st category Fisser-Höfe, would be a definite one for the climbers.
Attacks from the start but the peloton is too quick to get away from
There were a number of attacks in the early kilometres, including one from Linus Gerdemann (Leopard Trek) and Luca Paolini (Katusha), but none was successful. A 17-man move, including Gerdemann again with teammate Andy Schleck, managed to get a little way ahead of the peloton after 30km; the move was only able to get a minute clear though, and was eventually pulled back at around the 60km point.
As the climb to the Flüelapass began 10km later another group of 17 riders managed to get themselves clear, with Andy Schleck there once more, as well as Paolini; finally the peloton slowed enough for them to get away. In less than 5km the group managed to open up a lead of four minutes over the peloton, which was no led by the Lampre-ISD team of race leader Damiano Cunego.
The group in full consisted of: Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek), Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto), George Hincapie (BMC Racing), Christian Vandevelde (Garmin-Cervélo), Alberto Losada and Luca Paolini (both Katusha), José Ivan Gutierrez, Angel Madrazo and Jose Joaquin Rojas (all Movistar), Enrico Gasparotto (Astana), Javier Aramendia (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Dries Devenyns (Quick Step), Thomas De Gendt, Sergey Lagutin and Marco Marcato (all Vacansoleil-DCM) and Andreas Dietziker (Team NetApp).
The best placed in the group was Bakelants but, as he sat 9’53” behind Cunego in 17th place, he was deemed to be of no danger.
The break is clear and the leaders’ teams aren’t interested in pulling it back
As the 17 men made their way up to the Flüelapass, which topped out at 2383 metres, they continued to build their lead. With 10km still to climb, they were seven minutes clear, and as they approached the top they had opened it up to 8’25”.
This was as wide as the gap was to get as, with Rabobank now in control of the peloton, it began to come down as the race made its way down the long descent.
As well as protecting the podium positions of second place Bauke Mollema and previous day’s stage winner Steven Kruijswijk, the Dutch team also had to worry about Andy Schleck. Despite having a disappointing race so far, in terms of the overall classification, the Tour de France runner up took first place over the top of the Flüelapass, and was now just 9 points behind Rabobank’s Laurens Ten Dam in the mountains classification.
Perhaps Schleck had deliberately lost over 14 minutes on the previous day, just so he would be allowed to get into a breakaway today…
As the race made its way along the rolling roads towards the Norbertshöhe and the Austrian border, the Rabobank team made gradual progress into the front group’s advantage. As they reached the foot of the 2nd category climb though, the 17 men still had six minutes; with all of them still apparently fresh, and with Rabobank having virtually no chance of catching them before the top, the gap stayed relatively static as they took on the climb.
A poor race overall, but could Andy Schleck be crowned the mountain king?
Schleck was first over the top once more, winning eight points and putting further pressure on Ten Dam’s jersey; he was now just one point behind. On the descent Hincapie put in a brief attack, but he couldn’t get away. Shortly afterwards he went again, with Vande Velde and Gutierrez, but this too was pulled back by the others; it looked for all the world as though the 17 riders were to hit the final climb all together.
At the intermediate sprint in Pfunds though, with 25.8km to go, De Gendt contested the points, continued his attack and managed to get away from the other 16. On the flat roads he managed to open up his lead over the rest of the group and, with 20km to go, he was 27 seconds clear.
The group behind De Gendt was refusing to panic, with the tough climb to the finish still to come; although the Belgian’s move did allow his two teammates in the group, Lagutin and Marcato, the luxury of sitting in for a while.
Similarly, the Rabobank team at the head of the peloton was quite happy to leave the break where it was for the time being; the gap began to open once more. With 15km to go De Gendt was 50 seconds ahead of his former colleagues, and 6’42” ahead of the peloton.
Just before the final intermediate sprint, in St Christina with 13.9km to go, Paolini set off in pursuit; the Italian was almost a minute behind De Gendt though, and the others let him go.
The lone leader hits the climb but there are better climbers in pursuit
As De Gendt hit the bottom of the climb to the Fisser-Höfe, which would top out with just 3.5km to go, he led Paolini by 52 seconds, the other 15 by 1’20” and the peloton by 6’48”. Schleck, apparently out to prove that his legs were in a better condition than his finish on the previous day would indicate, was the next rider to move; the Luxemburger had Bakelants firmly attached to his wheel though, and the rest of the group rejoined.
Despite the presence of Andy Schleck up the road, the Leopard Trek team still had the interests of his elder brother Fränk, the defending champion. The Luxembourg team wrested control of the front of the peloton as it approached the base of the climb.
De Gendt appeared to be climbing strongly with 5km to the top of the climb, but suddenly Andy Schleck – again pursued by Bakelants – was in pursuit. The rest of the group made short work of passing Paolini, but the lone Belgian was persisting.
The peloton arrived at the foot of the climb and BMC Racing took control; Rabobank though, had other ideas and moved forward en masse to take over.
Up ahead, Schleck had shed Bakelants and the others and was steadily reeling in the lone De Gendt. With 7km to go though, he still trailed him by 45 seconds.
Rabobank tries to keep control but the attacks come from all over
Rabobank had control of the front of the peloton but, as it slowed a little on the climb, Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervélo) grabbed his chance and attacked. The American, who had been robbed by an unshipped chain the day before, managed to get a few seconds clear; he was pursued by Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM), then accelerated again as the peloton hesitated behind him.
Danielson was joined by Damiano Caruso (Liquigas-Cannondale) and the rest of the front group moved up to him. Caruso persisted though, followed by Danielson with Cunego on his wheel, but the two of them were not allowed to get away and they were forced to let the Liquigas-Cannondale rider go.
Schleck was now out of the saddle, climbing strongly, and was steadily reeling in De Gendt; the thinning front group was now little more than five minutes behind the leader now, after the multiple accelerations, but would be unlikely to catch either Schleck or De Gendt before the finish.
Matthas Frank (BMC Racing) put in a strong attack and was followed by Kruijswijk and Danielson. Conspicuously, Cunego did not follow and the three riders managed to get a few seconds clear. Maxime Monfort (Leopard Trek) was leading the chase behind them, on behalf of Fränk Schleck though and they dangled, tantalisingly, just a few seconds in front.
De Gendt rode over the summit of the climb, still 36 seconds ahead of Schleck, and now just had the matter of 3.5km of false flat to the finish line. Despite climbing strongly and taking the climber’s jersey, Schleck had seemingly left it too late to catch the Belgian and win the stage.
Cunego under pressure as the stage is won
With Frank, Danielson and Kruijswijk up the road, Caruso attacked once more and the group of favourites was pulled along in pursuit by Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad), whose position overall was threatened by the Italian. Cunego was the rider under real pressure though, with Kruijswijk up the road threatening his yellow jersey.
The Cunego group was speeding up though, under pressure from all the attacks and, before they reached the top of the climb, the three escapees were pulled back under pressure from Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack).
De Gendt managed to safely get through the final kilometres to the finish, resisting the pursuit of Schleck, to take his second WorldTour stage victory, after the first stage of Paris-Nice back in March. Schleck came in 34 seconds behind him, but the real battle was still going on, on the mountain behind them.
Danielson attacked again, followed by Chris Froome (Team Sky), but Cunego sprinted across to them; the rest of the group followed him and Kruijswijk tried to go again. The Dutchman was pulled back once more, and Fränk Schleck was next to go; when the Luxembourg champion was quickly caught by the others, his Leopard Trek teammate Jakob Fuglsang went himself and there was no reaction.
The Dane managed to get away and stay away, finishing just a few seconds clear of the rest of the group, which was led over the line by Cunego. The Italian had weathered the storm successfully and managed to keep his lead over both Mollema and Kruijswijk intact.
The loser on the day was Ten Dam who, as well as losing his green jersey to Andy Schleck, lost 46 seconds to Cunego by the finish.