Tour de Suisse 2019 – Stage 8 [FULL STAGE – Individual Time Trial]

June 22, 2019

Tour de Suisse 2019 – Stage 8 – Goms – Goms : 19,2 km

The Tour de Suisse, together with the Criterium du Dauphine, is the last critical test before the Tour de France – on one hand, a tune-up for the general classification contenders – on the other, a fight for selection to a rider’s squad for the Grand Tour. For Team Ineos, the Tour de Suisse will be an important form check for defending Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas, who has not raced since coming third in the Tour de Romandie, and for his teammate Egan Bernal, who fractured his collarbone after the Volta a Catalunya. It will also be a critical juncture for Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) who is coming back after iliac artery surgery.

Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-QuickStep) won stage 8 of the Tour de Suisse, while Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) will carry the yellow jersey into Sunday’s finale after delivering a strong display in the 19.2km time trial around Goms.

Lampaert was among the day’s early starters and had a long wait in the hot seat, but the closest challenge to his mark came from teammate Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep), who finished second on the stage, 5 seconds down. Søren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) took third place, a further 5 seconds back.

World time trial champion Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) was the favourite to claim stage honours after winning last weekend’s opening time trial and performing so strongly throughout the week.

The Australian may well have paid for those efforts, however. He was 12 seconds behind Lampaert at the 10km mark and he was unable to recoup his losses on the back end of the course, eventually placing 6th on the stage, 18 seconds down.

Dennis had begun the day 41 seconds down on Bernal and within striking distance of his overall lead, but come the intermediate checkpoint, it was already apparent that the Colombian had the wherewithal to retain the yellow jersey.

Bernal only conceded 19 seconds to Dennis in the opening segment of the course, which saw the road climb gradually before descending gently to the intermediate time check in Obergesteln. He then maintained that margin over the remainder of the course despite enduring a late scare when his rear wheel skidded on a sharp left-hand corner with a little over 3km remaining.

In the hot seat, Lampaert put a hand to his mouth in shock as he watched a slow-motion replay of the incident, but Bernal managed to stay upright and did not allow the incident to unsettle him on the narrow, twisting roads in the closing part of the course.

“I was a little bit scared because I took the corner really fast. It was a risk but I think I took a couple of seconds in the corner,” Bernal said.

Bernal eventually placed 11th on the stage, 37 seconds behind Lampaert, which sufficed to keep him in the yellow jersey with a buffer of 22 seconds over Dennis ahead of Sunday’s concluding stage, a short but tough mountainous leg that takes the peloton over the 2436m-high Furkapass.

“I was thinking this morning maybe I would lose the yellow so it’s a big surprise for me,” Bernal said. “I was fighting for this jersey with world champion in the TT so I can be happy with this performance.”

Pozzovivo slips down the rankings

The stage win was Lampaert’s first victory of the season and the second time trial triumph of his career after the 2017 Belgian time trial championship. He admitted afterwards that he was surprised to have beaten a time triallist of the calibre of Dennis.

“I am very surprised, I did not expect this at all,” Lampaert said. “I know I can do a good time trial, but there were a lot of specialists on the start list. I am very surprised, but I am very happy. I went better than the world champion Rohan Dennis, but of course he has given a lot in the climbing stages this week.”

New Zealanders Tom Scully (EF Education First) and Paddy Bevin (CCC) placed 4th and 5th, respectively, both 13 seconds down on Lampaert. Dennis was the best-placed of the GC contenders in 6th place and the Australian is still on course to finish on the podium of the Tour de Suisse.

Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) remains in third place overall after taking 30th on the stage, 1:11 down, but the Austrian’s deficit on Bernal has stretched out to 1:46. Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) moves up to 4th overall, a further 8 seconds down.

Benoot – like Jan Hirt (Astana), who now lies 5th overall – was among the beneficiaries of a subdued outing from Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida). The Italian, who so impressed at San Gottardo on Friday, endured a trying afternoon here. He placed 99th on the stage, 2:17 behind Lampaert, and he drops to 8th overall, now some 2:56 behind Bernal.

Already winner of Paris-Nice this season, Bernal is now on the cusp of adding the Tour de Suisse to his palmares and in the process of making a claim on leadership of Team Ineos for next month’s Tour de France.

“I think that we will try to keep the jersey and not do any crazy things,” Bernal said of his approach to Sunday’s final stage. “We have won a stage and now we’re in yellow with one day to go. We will try to keep the jersey. If Bahrain want to win maybe they will try something. We will just try to keep the jersey.”

Results :
1 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:21:59
2 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:05
3 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:00:10
4 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Education First 0:00:13
5 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team
6 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:19
7 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:20
8 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:32
9 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:34
10 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:36
11 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos 0:00:38
12 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 0:00:39
13 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:41
14 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:42
15 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
16 Claudio Imhoff (Swi) Switzerland 0:00:49
17 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
18 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:55
19 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:56
20 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:58
21 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:59
22 Hugh John Carthy (GBr) EF Education First 0:01:00
23 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:01
24 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:02
25 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First 0:01:03
26 Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:04
27 Kevin Geniets (Lux) Groupama-FDJ
28 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:05
29 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:01:11
30 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
31 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:12
32 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
33 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:13
34 Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:14
35 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team
36 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:15
37 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:01:16
38 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Dimension Data 0:01:17
39 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
40 Marc Hirschi (Swi) Team Sunweb 0:01:18
41 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:19
42 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team 0:01:20
43 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:01:23
44 Patrick Schelling (Swi) Switzerland 0:01:24
45 Gino Mäder (Swi) Dimension Data
46 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
47 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
48 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:25
49 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie
50 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:28
51 Rob Britton (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
52 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
53 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Movistar Team 0:01:30
54 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:31
55 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team
56 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb 0:01:32
57 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Education First 0:01:33
58 Gian Friesecke (Swi) Switzerland 0:01:35
59 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First 0:01:36
60 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) CCC Team
61 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:38
62 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:01:39
63 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:40
64 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 0:01:41
65 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:42
66 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
67 Stan Dewulf (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:43
68 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
69 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Dimension Data
70 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:44
71 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep
72 Sam Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:45
73 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:46
74 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
75 Sergio Henao (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:48
76 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Ineos 0:01:51
77 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:53
78 Roland Thalmann (Swi) Switzerland 0:01:54
79 Pierre-Roger LaTour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:56
80 Yuriy Natarov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:57
81 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:59
82 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) CCC Team
83 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:02:00
84 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team
85 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:02
86 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
87 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Direct Energie 0:02:03
88 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:04
89 Ryan Anderson (Can) Rally UHC Cycling 0:02:05
90 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
91 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
92 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:06
93 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:07
94 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Direct Energie
95 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:11
96 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:12
97 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:15
98 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:17
99 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
100 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:18
101 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:19
102 Jérôme Cousin (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:02:21
103 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Switzerland 0:02:22
104 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
105 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team 0:02:25
106 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:27
107 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
108 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
109 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
110 Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:02:29
111 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:33
112 Robert Stannard (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
113 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:35
114 Carlos Cuesta Barbero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:39
115 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie
116 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:44
117 Andrea Garosio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:48
118 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
119 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Ineos 0:02:49
120 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:50
121 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:51
122 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:52
123 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Switzerland 0:02:53
124 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:59
125 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos 0:03:01
126 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:02
127 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos
128 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
129 Svein Tuft (Can) Rally UHC Cycling 0:03:03
130 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie 0:03:08
131 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Direct Energie
132 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:21
133 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Switzerland 0:03:25
134 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:03:30
135 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:31
136 enny Elissonde (Fra) Team Ineos 0:03:56
DNS Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNS Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates

General Classification after Stage 8 :
1 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos 24:40:24
2 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:22
3 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:46
4 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:54
5 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:01:55
6 Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:43
7 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:53
8 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:56
9 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:17
10 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb
11 Patrick Schelling (Swi) Switzerland 0:03:28
12 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:03:36
13 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:44
14 Sergio Henao (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:45
15 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:18
16 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:38
17 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:55
18 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie 0:05:10
19 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:11
20 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:39
21 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team 0:06:10
22 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:06:39
23 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Ineos 0:07:05
24 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Dimension Data 0:07:24
25 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team 0:08:02
26 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:48
27 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:10:15
28 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:11:01
29 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:11:11
30 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:11:16
31 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 0:11:47
32 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:12:38
33 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Ineos 0:13:07
34 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:16:05
35 enny Elissonde (Fra) Team Ineos 0:16:07
36 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team 0:16:43
37 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:16:51
38 Gino Mäder (Swi) Dimension Data 0:17:03
39 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott 0:18:23
40 Roland Thalmann (Swi) Switzerland 0:18:29
41 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 0:19:58
42 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:20:09
43 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team 0:20:36
44 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Switzerland 0:20:37
45 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
46 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First 0:21:34
47 Hugh John Carthy (GBr) EF Education First 0:21:36
48 Marc Hirschi (Swi) Team Sunweb 0:21:42
49 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Switzerland 0:22:08
50 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:22:15
51 Kevin Geniets (Lux) Groupama-FDJ 0:22:25
52 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:22:30
53 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Direct Energie 0:23:05
54 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:23:14
55 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:23:45
56 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team 0:24:01
57 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:24:12
58 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:25:17
59 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:25:53
60 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:26:31
61 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:26:56
62 Robert Stannard (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:27:22
63 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:28:31
64 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:29:00
65 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:30:34
66 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:30:50
67 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:31:04
68 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie 0:31:46
69 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Dimension Data 0:31:52
70 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott 0:32:35
71 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:32:40
72 Stan Dewulf (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:32:53
73 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:33:23
74 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:34:08
75 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:34:15
76 Yuriy Natarov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:34:50
77 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Direct Energie 0:35:17
78 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 0:35:20
79 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale 0:36:12
80 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:37:58
81 Gian Friesecke (Swi) Switzerland 0:38:10
82 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:38:17
83 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:38:24
84 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:41:38
85 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:43:13
86 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:43:20
87 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:43:25
88 Carlos Cuesta Barbero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:43:57
89 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin 0:44:32
90 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Education First 0:44:47
91 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:44:48
92 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos 0:45:22
93 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Switzerland 0:45:29
94 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First 0:45:36
95 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:45:37
96 Pierre-Roger LaTour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:47:11
97 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:47:32
98 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:47:33
99 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:48:21
100 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:50:08
101 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
102 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:50:46
103 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:50:53
104 Andrea Garosio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:52:42
105 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie 0:54:05
106 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:54:10
107 Sam Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:55:27
108 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) CCC Team 0:55:29
109 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:56:22
110 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Movistar Team 0:56:25
111 Claudio Imhoff (Swi) Switzerland 0:56:39
112 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:56:43
113 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:57:50
114 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:57:57
115 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Direct Energie 0:58:10
116 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:58:22
117 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Education First 0:59:04
118 Ryan Anderson (Can) Rally UHC Cycling 0:59:16
119 Rob Britton (Can) Rally UHC Cycling 0:59:26
120 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:59:35
121 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin 1:00:32
122 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ 1:01:24
123 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 1:01:52
124 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 1:01:54
125 Jérôme Cousin (Fra) Total Direct Energie 1:01:59
126 Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 1:03:41
127 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team 1:05:37
128 Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates 1:06:01
129 Svein Tuft (Can) Rally UHC Cycling 1:06:19
130 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 1:06:51
131 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep 1:07:02
132 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) CCC Team 1:09:02
133 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 1:09:33
134 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos 1:10:10
135 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 1:11:30
136 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal 1:30:03