Tour de Suisse 2018 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE – Team Time Trial]

June 01, 2018

Tour de Suisse 2018 – Stage 1 – Frauenfeld (TTT) : 18 km

BMC Racing’s Richie Porte will head to this year’s Tour de France knowing that, at the ripe old age of 33, he’s not going to have too many more attempts to try to win, having spectacularly, and horrifically, crashed out of last year’s race, so he’ll be using the Tour de Suisse as a barometer of his form.And so it is for many at the Tour de Suisse, who use the race to hone – or sometimes even attempt to find – their form ahead of the Tour de France. And as it has always been, in tandem with those riders who choose the concurrent Critérium du Dauphiné to ready themselves for July.
Movistar pairing Nairo Quintana and Mikel Landa get to test out how harmonious their race-winning potential is with their double-pronged attack in Switzerland, and get ready to add third-prong Alejandro Valverde in July at the Tour.Katusha-Alpecin come here with the defending Tour de Suisse champion who was the 2015 winner, too, in Simon Spilak. UAE Team Emirates, meanwhile, boast three-time Tour de Suisse winner – from 2012-2014 – Rui Costa in their ranks. It remains to be seen whether the Portuguese rider still has what it takes to win a fourth title, but he’ll be on all the contenders’ watch lists.

BMC Racing won the opening stage of the Tour de Suisse, dominating the 18km team time trial with a time of 20:18 and putting local boy Stefan Küng in the yellow leader’s jersey of the race.

Team Sunweb took second on the day, with a time of 20:36, while Quick Step Floors were third at 20:45, just fractions of a second ahead of Bora-Hansgrohe.

The American-registered WorldTour squad were among the pre-race favourites for the stage having brought their ‘A’ team to their sponsor’s home race. GC contender Richie Porte and his super domestique Tejay Van Garderen led the way, while Simon Gerrans, Greg Van Avermaet and Alessandro De Marchi completed the strong line-up along with Küng and fellow Swiss rider Michael Schar.

They duly delivered, flying along the 18km course at over 54km/h and smashing the intermediate checkpoint along the way. Küng, who hails from the town of Wil, just 20km away from Frauenfeld, was first over the line in his home region. The 24-year-old time trialist also takes the young rider’s jersey and the unique ‘best local rider’ prize.

After just one day and 18km of racing, the result sees Porte installed as the overall favourite. Only two summit finishes feature on a route that looks softer than in previous instalments, while a final day 35km time trial will be very much to his liking.

As for the riders who will be looking to beat the Australian, Wilco Kelderman and Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) lie 19 seconds back with Nairo Quintana and Mikel Landa (Movistar) 33 seconds down. Gorka and Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) are 36 seconds down, while defending champion Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin) has his work cut out, lying 46 seconds back.

How it happened

The 2018 Tour de Suisse opened with a team time trial around the northeastern town of Frauenfeld. At 18km and with rolling roads in the first half of the stage, the test was the first sort-out of a race heavier on time trials and lighter on mountains than in recent years.

UAE-Team Emirates were the early pacemakers, putting in a time of 21:08 as the fourth team home. Team Sky came next, failing to best the UAE squad. It was something of a surprise given their pedigree in the discipline but less so given that much of their Tour de France squad is currently competing at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

LottoNL-Jumbo, EF-Drapac and Dimension Data also failed to beat UAE Team Emirates but then came Quick Step Floors with the fastest time at the intermediate checkpoint despite dropping riders along the way. The Belgian team eventually crossed the line at 20:45 – putting them at the top of the leader board.

Movistar – a traditionally strong outfit in this discipline despite their relative lack of solo time trial stars, set the second fastest time soon after. The Spanish team, featuring both Nairo Quintana and Mikel Landa but not a recently ill Alejandro Valverde, clocked in at 20:51.

Peter Sagan’s Bora-Hansgrohe team flew through the intermediate only five seconds down and came the closest to Quick Step Floors at the line, ending up just fractions of a second away from the hot seat. As stage favourites Mitchelton-Scott and BMC Racing set off, Bahrain-Merida were the next team to break the 21-minute barrier, serving up an impressive time of 20:54.

World team time trial champions Team Sunweb went out fast, and were down to four riders before the halfway point. They were fastest at the checkpoint but struggled to keep their quartet together on the latter half of the stage but still held on to set a new fastest time at 20:37.

It was then Mitchelton-Scott’s turn to finish, coming in at 20:47. Out on course, BMC Racing was going even faster, taking eight seconds off Sunweb’s checkpoint time.

At the finish they decimated the time of the German squad, leaving Katusha-Alpecin to finish last and round off the proceedings with a time of 21:04.

Küng was happy to take the yellow jersey and will no doubt wear it with pride during Sunday’s 155km stage around Frauenfeld.

Results :
1 BMC Racing Team 0:20:18
2 Team Sunweb 0:00:20
3 Quick-Step Floors 0:00:27
4 Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:29
6 Movistar Team 0:00:33
7 Bahrain-Merida 0:00:36
8 Groupama-FDJ 0:00:45
9 Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:46
10 UAE Team Emirates 0:00:50
11 LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:53
12 Lotto Soudal 0:00:58
13 Trek-Segafredo
14 Team Sky 0:01:02
15 EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:01:05
16 AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:07
17 Dimension Data 0:01:10
18 Direct Energie 0:01:16
19 Aqua Blue Sport
20 Astana Pro Team 0:01:18
21 Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini 0:02:01

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:20:18
2 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
4 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
5 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:20
6 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
7 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
8 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
9 Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:25
10 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:27
11 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
12 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
13 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
14 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
15 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
16 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
17 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
18 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
19 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:29
20 Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Mitchelton-Scott
21 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott
22 Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
23 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
24 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 0:00:33
25 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
26 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
27 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team
28 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
29 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:36
30 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
31 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
32 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
33 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida
34 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:45
35 Arthur Vichot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
36 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Groupama-FDJ
37 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Groupama-FDJ
38 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:46
39 Willie Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin
40 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
41 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
42 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
43 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
44 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:49
45 José Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
46 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:50
47 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
48 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
49 Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
50 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:53
51 Thomas Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
52 Koen Bouwmam (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
53 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
54 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:58
55 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
56 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
57 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
58 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
59 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
60 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal
61 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
62 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:59
63 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:02
64 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
65 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky
66 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky
67 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
68 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:01:05
69 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
70 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
71 Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
72 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
73 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:07
74 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
75 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
76 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
77 Cyril Gautier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
78 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
79 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky
80 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:08
81 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:10
82 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
83 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
84 Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data
85 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data
86 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
87 Igor Anton (Spa) Dimension Data
88 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
89 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:12
90 Nicolas Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data 0:01:15
91 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:16
92 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie
93 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Direct Energie
94 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Direct Energie
95 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie
96 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) Aqua Blue Sport
97 Mark Christian (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
98 Stefan Denifl (Aut) Aqua Blue Sport
99 Edward Dunbar (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport
100 Peter Koning (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport 0:01:18
101 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
102 Magnus Cort (Den) Astana Pro Team
103 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
104 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
105 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:20
106 Daniel Pearson (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport 0:01:22
107 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Movistar Team 0:01:23
108 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:43
109 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:01:44
110 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:55
111 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:02:00
112 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini 0:02:01
113 Masakazu Ito (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini
114 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini
115 Filippo Zaccanti (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini
116 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:06
117 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:18
118 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:21
119 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors
120 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:25
121 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:27
122 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:31
123 Sho Hatsuyama (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini 0:02:40
124 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:41
125 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
126 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:42
127 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini 0:02:52
128 Eduard Michael Grosu (Rom) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini
129 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:53
130 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Direct Energie 0:03:04
131 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Direct Energie
132 Edward Theuns (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:03:05
133 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Sunweb
134 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
135 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:17
136 Matti Breschel (Den) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:03:20
137 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
138 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:03:23
139 Bram Tankink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:27
140 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:03:29
141 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
142 Jesper Hansen (Den) Astana Pro Team
143 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:03:43
144 Gregory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:49
145 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:53
146 Calvin Watson (Aus) Aqua Blue Sport 0:04:33
147 Sam Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:06