In an exciting showdown with Rohan Dennis (AUS / TBM), Egan Bernal (COL / INS) defended his lead in the general classification. In Goms, he was celebrated as overall winner of the 83rd Tour de Suisse. Patrick Konrad (AUT / BOH) completed the podium in third place.
With his 22 years and 5 months, Bernal is the third-youngest winner of the Tour de Suisse. The Colombian rider is considered as one of cycling’s most talented young professional riders. In the upcoming Tour de France, Bernal is expected to be riding in support of his Ineos team captain, last year’s Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas (GBR).
Bernal laid the foundations for his second triumph of this season after Paris-Nice with the mountain-top finish in Flumserberg, with his stage victory on the Gotthard Pass and with a strong performance in the individual time-trial in Goms.
Bernal had to withstand the attacks from his opponents at the last major obstacle of the Tour de Suisse, the Furka Pass. On the final climb, Dennis went all in but Bernal was able to follow the Australian rider. In the end, Bernal held onto his advantage of 19 seconds to secure the overall victory. “This triumph provides me with great confidence,” said Bernal.
None of the Swiss riders were able to mix in with the battle for the overall victory. Nevertheless, Patrick Schelling (SUI / SUI) managed an outstanding results with his 11th place in the final general classification, and Mathias Frank (ALM) obtained a strong fourth place in the stage classification on the last day.
With a performance rarely seen in modern cycling, Hugh Carthy (GBR / ED1) stepped into the spotlight. The Briton was one of the first attackers of the final day, riding almost the entire distance of the queen stage alone in front of the race. Outsider Carthy not only celebrated the most significant victory of his career but his bold triple-Alps ride netted him even more.
On the Nufenen-, Gotthard- and Furka-pass he collected so many points for the mountain’s classification that he crowned himself as the ‘king of the mountains’ of the Tour de Suisse. After Friday’s mountain-top finish on the Gotthard a good overall placing was no longer possible, said Carthy, because his head and body weren’t co-operating. Now, he is happy that it all worked out two days later.
At the end of the 83rd Tour de Suisse, the race organisers drew a mostly positive balance. Sportive manager David Loosli: “The quality of the stage locations and the overall good weather resulted in an overwhelming amount of spectators, from Emmental until Goms. The excellent co-operation with the cantonal and local authorities helped us in particular with the short-term revision of the queen stage.”
The enthusiasm on the roadside reflected in the media numbers. The TV broadcast on SRF 2 reached daily peaks of well over 90,000 spectators with market shares of up to 33 percent. #Tourdesuisse broke new records on social media. The Twitter video of the Sagan victory in Murten reached 43,000 views.
The 84th Tour de Suisse will take place from 6 to 14 June 2019. Geographically, start town Frauenfeld and finish town Andermatt will feature as cornerstones.
