“It was very hard today, but I gave the maximum,” Kruijswijk told Eurosport. “This is the most beautiful win of my career.”
Stage Six, 158 km with an Hors Categorie mountaintop finish, promised fireworks but didn’t deliver.
Three riders—Unsausti Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi,) Angel Madrazo (Movistar,) and Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step)—escaped early, but they never had a chance; in fact they never even mattered.
The final 14.5-kilometer climb—averaging 8.5 percent, with ramps up to 15 percent, and a long finish as 12.5 percent—was the focus of the race and every rider.
Long before the climb, a serious accident stopped the race. Juan Mauricio Soler, second in the General Classification (CG), was caught in a multi-rider collision, possibly caused by a rider hitting a spectator. The race had to be stopped while ambulances removed the injured parties. Soler was diagnosed with a skull fracture and bleeding in the brain. He is in stable condition in intensive care.
Once the race was resumed, the three riders attacked and opened a gap of several minutes; the peloton wasn’t interested. Fabian Cancellara and Jens Voigt of Leopard-Trek kept the pace high, not to catch the escapees, but to tire the competition so defending champion Frank Schleck could attack later.
It was not Schleck’s day; he tired partway up the final climb, finishing sixth and dropping one place in the GC.
The peloton hit the climb and immediately broke up, with a group of 12 riders, including Cunego in the yellow jersey, out ahead. Maxim Monfort and Jakob Fuglsang took up the pace-setting duties for Leopard-Trek, setting such a high cadence no one tried an attack.
The lead group shed a few riders, caught the escapees, and rolled steadily up the mountain, all riders watching one another, waiting to see who would go.
Finally, with 2.5 km to go, race leader Damiano Cunego couldn’t take the waiting and tried a move. He made 200 meters before the rest caught up, and when they did, Rabobank’s Steven Kruijswijk kept right on going.
No one in the leading group could respond; Kruijswijk had saved just enough, and timed his attack perfectly, striking when the rest relaxed after catching Cunego. The Rabobank rider climbed his way into third in the GC from ninth.
Cunego and Levi Leipheimer tried unsuccessfully to catch Kruijswijk; Leipheimer attacked Cunego and dropped him with 450 meters to go, advancing from 10th to 5th in the GC.
Rabobank was the biggest gainer, getting three riders into the top six. This will put a lot of pressure on Cunego in Stage Seven, a devastating mountain stage 223 km long with an Hors Categorie followed by a Cat Two and a Cat One mountaintop finish.
The attacks, which didn’t come in Stage Six will have to come in Stage Seven. Damiano Cunego has a 1:23 lead. Stage Eight is a sprinters’ stage when the GC contenders can rest, and the final stage is a time trial, which should favor Cunego. If anyone else wants to win the Tour de Suisse, they will have to win it tomorrow.
| Tour de Suisse Stage Six Results | |||
| 1 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) | Rabobank | 4:12:03 |
| 2 | Levi Leipheimer (USA) | RadioShack | 0:00:09 |
| 3 | Damiano Cunego (Ita) | Lampre | 0:00:18 |
| 4 | Bauke Mollema (Ned) | Rabobank | 0:00:21 |
| 5 | Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) | Katusha | 0:00:21 |
| 6 | Frank Schleck (Lux) | Leopard Trek | 0:00:30 |
| 7 | Mathias Frank (Swi) | BMC | 0:00:30 |
| 8 | Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) | Rabobank | 0:01:19 |
| 9 | Jakob Fuglsang (Den) | Leopard Trek | 0:01:27 |
| 10 | Tom Danielson (USA) | Garmin-Cervelo | 0:01:42 |
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| General Classification after Stage Six | |||
| 1 | Damiano Cunego (Ita) | Lampre | 21:26:28 |
| 2 | Bauke Mollema (Ned) | Rabobank | 0:01:23 |
| 3 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) | Rabobank | 0:01:36 |
| 4 | Frank Schleck (Lux) | Leopard Trek | 0:01:41 |
| 5 | Levi Leipheimer (USA) | RadioShack | 0:01:59 |
| 6 | Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) | Rabobank | 0:02:24 |
| 7 | Jakob Fuglsang (Den) | Leopard Trek | 0:02:45 |
| 8 | Mathias Frank (Swi) | BMC | 0:03:10 |
| 9 | Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) | Katusha | 0:03:11 |
| 10 | Tejay Van Garderen (USA) | HTC-Highroad | 0:03:22 |
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