Tour de Suisse

Stage 5: Wettingen to Frutigen, 172.5km/107mi

By Cathy Mehl

Rain fell on the peloton of 153 in stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse on Wednesday, making for another dangerous day on Swiss roads.  After yesterday’s horrific crash on the sprint line, riders were more than eager to be careful on the slick country roads for today’s stage.   Emerging from a successful breakaway,  Marcus Burghardt (BMC) attacked with just over 1km to go and never looked back, celebrating his first win since 2008, and a feather in the cap of his Swiss sponsor.  Team RadioShack riders spent time on the front near the end of the race, keeping everyone safe and upright on the Swiss roads.  There was no change on the overall with German Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) still holding one-second over former race leader Fabian Cancellara of Saxo Bank.

"Tomorrow is the Queen stage," commented Team Manager Johan Bruyneel after the race.  "Today it was important to stay alive and in the front.  There were gaps in the bunch.  Our leaders were all in the front thanks to the hard work of Mura, Popo, Rast and Steegs in the final.  I'm especially glad that Popo was able to do that work after his crash yesterday."

Some riders staged a protest at the start of the stage, expressing concern over the sprinting style of Mark Cavendish of HTC-Columbia.  Cavendish was sanctioned with a fine and time penalty for causing yesterday’s finish line crash.   Several riders were unable to start stage five, including Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo) who was involved in the initial contact with Cavendish in the crash. 

A five-man break went away after 10km of racing and included Burghardt, Dan Oss (Liquigas) and Martijn Maaskant of Garmin.  They worked together well to stay away and built a solid gap before the weather and small climbs broke up the cooperation of the group.  The peloton chased, including Team RadioShack who put Lance Armstrong, Andreas Klöden, Yaroslav Popovych and Levi Leipheimer on the front to assess the chances of making the catch.  But the wet roads made the peloton extra careful on the descents, especially after  Gerben Löwik of Omega Pharma-Lotto came into a corner too hot and ran off the road into the crowd.  A cautious main field didn’t make much progress in bringing back the break after that.

By 5km to go the three riders still held 1:11 to the yellow jersey group and it looked like they had outwitted the peloton to fight for the win amongst themselves.  Burghardt had no desire to put his sprinting skills up against the other two and put in a strong attack that served him up a solo win on the line in Frutigen.  Maaskant crossed a few bike lengths behind him with Oss claiming the third spot on the podium.

"It was so dangerous today because of the weather," said Team rider Gert Steegmans after the stage.  "It was so slippery.  I hope Löwik will be ok.  He missed a corner and hit some people in the public."

Tomorrow’s stage six heads to the mountains.  Two early climbs occur in the first 80km of racing, with a final HC climb located just 10km from the finish.  The stage travels 213km/132.5mi from Meiringen to La Punt in the longest stage of this year’s Tour de Suisse.  There are four stages remaining to race and plenty of opportunities for riders to move up on the classification.   The best racing action is yet to come with mountain stages on Thursday and Friday, a sprint stage on Saturday and then a final time trial to close out the race on Sunday.

Beyond the Finish Line: Blue cake (German: Blauer Kuchen) is a flaky pastry that is a specialty of the Frutig Valley  in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. It consists only of puff paste with no filling or other ingredients. Despite its name, it is not blue, but who cares – it sounds delicious!

Top Ten Results

1              Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team           4:21:23                   

2              Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Garmin - Transitions     0:00:02  

3              Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo                 0:00:04  

4              Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha     0:00:47  

5              Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini                     

6              Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team                             

7              Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quick Step                          

8              Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Milram                                

9              Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                      

10            Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Professional Cycling Team

Team RadioShack Results

13           Andreas Klöden (Ger)

19           Levi Leipheimer (USA)

29           Lance Armstrong (USA)

64           Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) 0:00:58

80           Gert Steegmans (Bel)   0:08:00

92           Gregory Rast (Swi)  0:09:16

118         Jason McCartney (USA)  0:11:07

132         Dimitri Muravyev (Kaz)

General Classification after Stage 6

1              Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia               18:57:47                

2              Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank                0:00:01  

3              Thomas Löfkvist (Swe) Sky Professional Cycling Team     0:00:09  

4              Rigoberto Uran (Col) Caisse d'Epargne   0:00:10  

5              Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick Step               0:00:11  

6              Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team                                 

7              Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank       0:00:13  

8              Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank   0:00:14  

9              Nicolas Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi    0:00:15  

10            Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank              0:00:17

Team RadioShack on General Classification

13           Levi Leipheimer (USA)  0:00:19

21           Lance Armstrong (USA)  0:00:30 

29           Andreas Klöden (Ger)   0:00:45

103         Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)   0:23:12

120         Gregory Rast (Swi)   0:30:27        

124         Gert Steegmans (Bel)   0:30:59 

133         Dimitri Muravyev (Kaz)  0:34:51                

145         Jason McCartney (USA)  0:40:53 

Photos courtesy of Graham Watson