Still Adam Yates to the Tour of Switzerland 2024. A total dominion what the UAE Team Emirates he put on stage in the fifth stage thanks to the success of the Maglia Gialla who triumphed alone, followed by his partner Joao Almeida. After the great work for the captain, in fact, the Portuguese increases his pace and also overtakes his rivals, taking second position ahead of Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), who loses sixteen seconds to the British, settling the surprise at the end Matthew Riccitello (Israel Premier Tech), who had also had the courage to attack at the beginning of the climb. Obviously, the race leader maintains and maintains his lead in the general classification, where he now has a margin of 35 seconds over his teammate and 1’11” over the Colombian.
The video of the arrival
The story of the stage
The day starts immediately with an action that seems to have the approval of the group. In fact, in a few hundred metres, Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Ben Zwiehoff (Bora Hansgrohe), Johan Price Pejtersen (Bahrain Victorious), Lawson Craddock (Team Jayco – AlUla) and Damien Howson (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) take a margin that seems to suggest a lucky move, but their hope does not last long. In fact, the road climbs almost immediately and the pace of the group increases proportionally to the slopes that rise under the wheels.
At the GPM, only Lutsenko, Howson, Zwiehoff and Laurance remain in front, while Stephen Williams (Israel Premier Tech) came out of the group on the counterattack and quickly fell back behind on the descent. Nans Peters (Decathlon Ag2r La Difesa Team) and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step) subsequently imitated him, while the group allowed more than a minute in view of the next climb, where however the group began to increase the pace again.
Under the impetus of the Ineos Grenadiers, the group explodes and, about two kilometers from the top, goes to pick up all the fugitives except Lutsenko. The Kazakh manages to reach the summit first with a 17″ advantage over a platoon made up of just over twenty units, including mainly the men in the ranking, but along the subsequent descent he is caught again. Once at the end, other runners rejoin the leading group, and at that point Lutsenko moves forward, also bringing along Einer Rubio (Movistar), Nans Peters (Decathlon Ag2r La Monde) and Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech).
Shortly after, Johannes Staune-Mittet (Visma | Lease a Bike) also moves forward and, after a short chase, manages to get back onto the four pacesetters, whose advantage over a group that has returned almost complete has in the meantime exceeded one minute, while a group of stragglers travel approximately 1’30” behind the main platoon. With UAE Team Emirates making a regular pace, the gap reached 2′ with -70 minutes to go, oscillating between 1’50” and 1’25” in the following 40 kilometers of valley floor.
With the approach to the final ascent in front, Rubio and Staune Mittet try to accelerate, battling it out at the Tissot kilometre. With Lutsenko reaching them first, subsequently imitated by Peters, a quartet forms in the lead and gains ground again, but those outbursts have broken the understanding and there is no more collaboration in front. The gap thus begins to fall quickly again and only a handful of seconds remain at the foot of the actual GPM given the good work still done by Ineos Grenadiers and UAE Team Emirates.
When we begin to climb more decisively, it is Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates) who raises the pace to catch Rubio, who was the last to give up entering the final ten kilometres. At that point the group explodes again, but when the Swiss rider Matthew Riccitello (Israel PremierTech and Matteo Badilatti (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) move, but he is unable to stay behind the American for long.
With Brandon Rivera (Ineos Grenadiers) setting the pace, the American rider’s advantage does not increase and the gap is closed when Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) takes the lead, raising the pace further. A change of pace that hurts many, including Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), among the brightest yesterday. Together with the Portuguese, five kilometers from the finish line, only Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Enric Mas (Movistar), a stoic Riccitello, Oscar Onley (Team dsm) remain -firmenich PostNL) and Sergio Higuita (Bora-hansgrohe), but the latter two have a short life in the lead, as does Pidcock.
In the final three kilometres, there are therefore just six of them at the head of the race, with only Almeida always setting the pace. Shortly after the sign indicating two kilometers to the end, with only one climb, Yates sprints, with Bernal and Mas trying to follow him, before getting burned. The two thus try to organize as best they can a rhythm behind him, but they also suffer the comeback of an Almeida who is always regular, even capable of detaching them and then chasing his captain alone. Yates sees him coming, but it is too late to wait for him as he is within the final 500 metres. The victory therefore goes to the Briton, with a five second advantage over Almeida and 16 over Bernal, who in the final part finds the energy to relaunch and get rid of Mas, with Riccitello in the middle.
