Tour de Suisse
Stage 6: Meiringen - La Punt 213.3km

Tour de Suisse’s Stage 6, nicknamed the Queen’s Stage, brought a glimpse of the excitement to come in the Alps and Pyrennes of this year’s Tour de France. Team RadioShack’s Lance Armstrong put his legs to the test...and passed. He passed right through the two Hors Catégorie and Category One climbs that characterized the Tour de Suisse’s longest stage. Armstrong finishing a strong 5th on the stage and moved into 7th overall in the general classification ( 0:55).

"I have to be happy. I’m 39 years old. I've been doing this for 17 years and I'm still at the front. So despite the things that I read in newspapers and on the internet every day of people talking about me....The record speaks for itself.”

The peleton stretched across the infamous Swiss Alps finishing with an uphill battle into the Italian border town of La Punt with Tony Martin beginning the day in yellow leader’s jersey. The day’s first two climbs, the Susten Pass, a 30-kilometer ascent and the Olberlap Pass, a 20-kilometer Category 1 climb, led to a early 13-man breakaway: Edouard Vorganov (Katusha), Alessandro Vanotti (Liquigas), Philip Deignan (Cervélo), Pablo Lastras Garcia (Caisse d'Epargne), Francesco Gavazzi  (Lampre), Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), Juan José Oroz, Amets Txurruka (both Euskaltel), Brice Feillu, Marco Marcato, Wouter Poels (all Vacansoleil), Jérémy Roy (FdJ) and Mathias Fränk (BMC).

With a five-minute gap, the breakaway briefly caught a glimpse of hope when a crossing train halted the peleton to a complete standstill bringing the lead to nearly six-and-half minutes. However, HTC-Columbia and Saxo Bank quickly moved to the front to drive the pace and attempt to defend Tony Martin’s leader’s jersey.

With 25-kilometers to go, the peleton moved into the final climb of the day, the Albula Pass. Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) attacked and was quickly followed by Robert Gesink (Rabobank). A high-powered chase group lead by Team RadioShack’s  Lance Armstrong, Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer quickly responded setting up for an epic battle to the finish.

When asked if he was afraid of this day, Armstrong said, “I was pretty confident. So no. I was not nervous. In the first part of the Albula, I was suffering and then at the end I felt more comfortable. In general, I felt good on the Albula and in the downhill to the finish.”

Yellow jersey holder Tony Martin began losing significant time on the leader’s group, falling 2:31 shortly into the base of the climb. The changes in pace lent to further splintering, as the peleton dropped the likes of Fabian Cancellara and Robbie McEwen.

Hovering 1:20 behind Gesink’s lead, early attacker Andy Schleck, Klöden, and Leipheimer eventually dropped as Armstrong and Fränk Schleck began the descent in to La Punt. Gesink proved the strongest climber of the day, holding off all attackers to take his first career stage win. Only needing to gain 27 seconds on Martin, Gesink easily takes over the lead in the general classification. Rigoberto Uran (Caisse d'Epargne) won the group sprint for second, as Armstrong finished 5th alongside Fränk Schleck (8th) 42 seconds back.

Stage 6 Results:

1 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank  6:20:53  
2 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Caisse d'Epargne  0:00:42  
3 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Team Katusha    
4 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Liquigas-Doimo    
5 Lance Armstrong (USA) Team Radioshack    
6 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team    
7 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team    
8 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank    
9 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo    
10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank  0:01:20

 
General Classification

Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank    25:18:57  
2 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Caisse d'Epargne   0:00:29  
3 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team    0:00:36  
4 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank    0:00:38  
5 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Team Katusha   0:00:42  
6 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team   0:00:54  
7 Lance Armstrong (USA) Team Radioshack  0:00:55  
8 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Liquigas-Doimo  0:01:01  
9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank   0:01:17  
10 Thomas Löfkvist (Swe) Sky Professional Cycling Team  0:01:38  

 

Team RadioShack General Classification Results:

7     Lance Armstrong (USA) 0:00:55 
12  Andreas Klöden (Ger)  0:01:48 
13   Levi Leipheimer (USA)  0:02:18 
73   Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)  0:33:25 
87   Grégory Rast (Swi) 0:40:40  
114  Dimitri Muravyev (Kaz)  0:51:24 
118 Gert Steegmans (Bel)  0:55:53  
137 Jason Mccartney (USA) 1:03:37