Mathieu van der Poel hits the target in the Tour of Switzerland
Monday, June 7, 2021 at 5:24 pm
Mathieu van der Poel won the first straight stage on the Tour of Switzerland. The Dutchman beat German Maximilian Schachmann in Lachen, who had moved away with him in the last kilometres. Wout Poels finished third, right behind him. Stefan Kung kept his captain’s jersey with difficulty.
In the mountain final of Stage 1 of the Tour of Switzerland, we were able to see for the first time the relationships between Michael Matthews, Matthew van der Poel and Julian Alaphilippe.
The leading group of four gets the blessing
Early on, two Swiss and two Canadians withdrew from the group: Mathieu Dal-Sein, Nicholas Zukowski (Rally Cycling), Claudio Imhoff (Swiss team) and Tom Buhli (Cofidis). Their progress stabilized when it increased to six minutes.
After going up two from Ghöch and Oberricken, it’s down to three minutes. With thirty kilometers remaining on the road, the frontrunners quietly began dreaming of a stage victory, although the descent of Oberreken didn’t cause chaos.
Photo: Color Vos
BikeExchange does a dirty job in the peloton
Not only among the leaders themselves, Bohle and Imhof moved away from the Canadians in the assembly, but also in Peloton. Matthews’ enthusiastic BikeExchange business tore the package into three parts. About seventy men inhabited that group alone.
The end followed Imhoff who quickly turned away from Boehle. He was caught a few kilometers before the last ascent of the day, Lichtenstrasse. At that time there was only ten kilometers to travel.
Alaphilippe attacks, Van der Poel and Poels along
On that climb we saw Alaphilippe attack first. The French caused a split with his attack. Only Van der Poel, Evan Garcia Cortina, Richard Karabaz, Maximilian Schachmann, Watts Boys, Jacob Vogelsang, Mark Hershey and Michael Woods were able to follow.
Van der Poel wins after the late attack, Kong remains the leader
In the last kilometers, this group quickly collapsed again. After an attack by van der Poel, the Dutchman drove alone for a while. Two kilometers from the finish, Schachmann managed to make the connection, leading to a sprint race with two at Lachen.
Van der Poel clearly has faster legs. The Alpecin-Fenix rider even pulled away from Schachmann for a second in the final meters. Poels finished third, right behind him. Commander Küng had to get past the final climb, but he kept the damage limited and kept his captain’s jersey.
