11 Jun 2021
Carapaz retains lead after strong Suisse teamwork
Related riders
Richard Carapaz
Tour De Suisse - Stage 6 » Fiesch › Disentis Sedrun, 130.1km
Richard Carapaz retained his 26-second race lead at the Tour de Suisse following a strong controlling performance from the Grenadiers on stage six.
Another day in the mountains saw the team ride hard and smart to take control of the peloton following a host of counter-attacks.
After the early break was caught following the long descent off the Gotthardpass, a mass counter attack followed, with Pavel Sivakov going up the road to be present in a group of 42.
As the break thinned out over the Lukmanierpass, Sivakov dropped back to add to the pace-setting on the front, bolstering the hard work done by Luke Rowe and Rohan Dennis. The team's work helped ensure the breakaway was no longer a danger, with the peloton arriving 2:49 after Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal) had taken the stage victory.
Carapaz retained hold of the yellow jersey heading into Saturday's key time trial. Eddie Dunbar now sits 13th on the GC but kept hold of the young rider jersey he'd inherited on Friday morning.
Another day in the mountains saw the team ride hard and smart to take control of the peloton following a host of counter-attacks.
After the early break was caught following the long descent off the Gotthardpass, a mass counter attack followed, with Pavel Sivakov going up the road to be present in a group of 42.
As the break thinned out over the Lukmanierpass, Sivakov dropped back to add to the pace-setting on the front, bolstering the hard work done by Luke Rowe and Rohan Dennis. The team's work helped ensure the breakaway was no longer a danger, with the peloton arriving 2:49 after Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal) had taken the stage victory.
Carapaz retained hold of the yellow jersey heading into Saturday's key time trial. Eddie Dunbar now sits 13th on the GC but kept hold of the young rider jersey he'd inherited on Friday morning.
Reaction
- Richard Carapaz
"It was a pretty chilled day for us, there were people who have lost time, we wanted to make sure we didn’t lose any time, and the team did a fantastic job of making sure we didn’t, I’m really happy and appreciate all their work, we wanted to make sure we kept the jersey today and we succeeded.
"Tomorrow, it’s a difficult time trial, it’s up and then down, which is a bit of a strange one, but all we can do is our best, we’ve come here with the aim of a good result, and I think tomorrow’s parcours is one that will suit me, and we’re here to fight for the win.
"There were a lot of attacks at the start, but we were expecting that, some people had lost a bit of time on the general classification so it was obvious that they would then look to try and take a stage win. We were calm about it, we knew which riders we needed to beware of and we made sure we were on top of it.
|When Alaphilippe attacked we were calm, we knew there was still over 100km to the finish and so we had time to control. He was the only rider in there who was a danger to the GC, but also it was a breakaway with only a few riders in, so we had the situation under control, you could see that, as we brought it back."
- Richard Carapaz
"It was a pretty chilled day for us, there were people who have lost time, we wanted to make sure we didn’t lose any time, and the team did a fantastic job of making sure we didn’t, I’m really happy and appreciate all their work, we wanted to make sure we kept the jersey today and we succeeded.
"Tomorrow, it’s a difficult time trial, it’s up and then down, which is a bit of a strange one, but all we can do is our best, we’ve come here with the aim of a good result, and I think tomorrow’s parcours is one that will suit me, and we’re here to fight for the win.
"There were a lot of attacks at the start, but we were expecting that, some people had lost a bit of time on the general classification so it was obvious that they would then look to try and take a stage win. We were calm about it, we knew which riders we needed to beware of and we made sure we were on top of it.
|When Alaphilippe attacked we were calm, we knew there was still over 100km to the finish and so we had time to control. He was the only rider in there who was a danger to the GC, but also it was a breakaway with only a few riders in, so we had the situation under control, you could see that, as we brought it back."
Friday also saw stage two of La Route d'Occitanie. The day finished in Auch, the home town of our much missed Sport Director Nico Portal. Following the stage the team were able to join Nico's family and his foundation. Ben Swift finished 15th on the uphill finish.
Tour de Suisse overall standings:
1. Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) 20:00:31
2. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech) +26
3. Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) +38"
4. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) +53"
5. Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) +1:11"
13. Eddie Dunbar (INEOS Grenadiers) +4:28"
Tour de Suisse overall standings:
1. Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) 20:00:31
2. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech) +26
3. Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) +38"
4. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) +53"
5. Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) +1:11"
13. Eddie Dunbar (INEOS Grenadiers) +4:28"
