Tour de Suisse 2014 – Stage 8 Preview

By David Hunter

Stage 7 Recap

As predicted, Tony Martin won and Tom Dumoulin was 2nd. What I didn’t expect was the podium place for Rui Costa. The German wanted to take more time, than the 28 seconds he got on Costa. The TT puts Costa in a very strong position, especially as Mollema and Kreuziger disappointed.

Stage 8 Delemont – Verbier 219.1km

We head to the mountains.

The GC battle really hots up this weekend. First on the menu, is the legendary climb up to Verbier.

Officially, the climb is 25.7km at 3.7% This doesn’t do it justice. The final 8.2km is at an average of 7.8%. This is a very difficult climb! The race was here in 2012, and Rui Costa won the stage, breaking the heart of Frank Schleck. He had attacked with 6km to go and looked like securing a win, but Costa pulled him back with 200 metres to go. It featured in the 2009 Tour de France, with Alberto Contador taking the stage. The Spaniard made the winning move by attacking with 5.6km to go.

If a team takes control, on the lower slopes, the peloton could be as small as 10 with 6km remaining. It will be nightmare for OPQS to control. They have Cav, Steegmans, Renshaw, Trentin and Martin Velits. None of these riders are capable of lasting long into the climb. It looks like the other teams will isolate Martin, very quickly, and then make him suffer. It will be impossible for him to follow the attacks, he’ll need to ride the climb at his own pace, and hope to stay in yellow. He is climbing very well this year, but this climb is one for the pure climbers.

With no bonus seconds on offer, we could see the morning break making it to the end, but they’ll need a big lead for the Verbier, as the GC boys will ride it very fast.

Looking at breakaway riders we have to consider Team Sky. Without a leader the other riders will be given free reign and I expect Deignan and Dombrowski to attack. The Swiss riders will be active with Rast, Albasini and Schar potentials for the break. Other strong riders who should be interested are Kruijswijk, Gerdermann, Teklehaimanot, CA Sorensen and Simon Clarke. Sitting around 5 minutes down are Andy Schleck and Warren Barguil. They are a bit close to Tony Martin, but might just get away.

OPQS will need help to control the break. The bad news for the break is the long flat section, as we approach the climb. FDJ, Tinkoff and IAM will want a stage win and could contribute to the chase.

Tony Martin says that the climb suits him, but I think he’s talking rubbish! The final 6km are very difficult and I expect the race to be blown apart, probably by IAM.

With Mollema and Kreuziger sitting slightly further back, it will be interesting to see their tactics and how much room, Rui Costa, gives them.

The winner of the stage has to be a great climber, sitting a couple of minutes back on GC is Acevedo and Capecchi. Both are big threats!

Prediction time…

Very, very hard to predict! From the break I say Cardoso, or if the GC boys win, I’ll go for Kreuziger.

David Hunter

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