Carlos Rodriguez rounded off Criterium du Dauphine with a ninth place finish on the GC while Ben Swift battled the rain in the breakaway on the first stage of Tour de Suisse.
Criterium du Dauphine
Rodriguez battled to 11th place on the final mountain stage to take top-10 on the GC.
Tobias Foss bridged over to the break with 110km to go to make a 12-man breakaway.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) went solo as the race approached the fourth categorised climb of the day, gaining a minute on the chasers, while the peloton were still almost three minutes back inside the final 50km.
Heading up the Col du Mont-Cenis, van der Poel was caught and was distanced, while Foss also dropped off the pace as attacks came thick and fast behind. Rodriguez was well in with the attacks in the yellow jersey group as the fight for the GC battle went into the final stages.
Rodriguez continued to hold on to finish 11th on the stage, and take ninth on the GC after a tough week in France.
Reaction
Carlos Rodriguez:
“It hasn’t been my best race, but it’s a fairly good preparation for the Tour de France and that’s what matters the most. I’m happy I have survived every day, fighting my way to a good placing overall. I’m very grateful to my teammates because they believed in me and did a great work to support me. For sure I wanted to be further up in the GC, but it is what it is. I did my best and it’s the the most I can ask for.”
Tour de Suisse
Ben Swift tackled the breakaway in tough conditions on the first stage of the Tour de Suisse, starting and finishing in Küssnacht.
Up the first ascent of the Michaelskreuzstrasse with 107km to go, a break of two got away, with Swift behind in a chasing group.
The chasing group caught the breakaway pair to form a front group of 28 riders with 85km.
As the rain began to fall heavily, the riders racked up a three minute lead. Ben O’Connor (Team Jayco AlUla) led the storm up the second ascent of the Michaelskreuzstrasse, before Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) attacked, with Swift and others just distanced on the climb.
Swift led the third chasing eight-man group as the conditions worsened into the finish, coming in 11th and 10th on the GC.