Despite capricious weather on Tuesday on the Tour de Suisse, the general classification did get clearer on stage 2. The big fight among the race’s favorites started in the final climb of Villars-sur-Ollon, and although being combative, the yellow jersey Stefan Küng was forced to let the best go about six kilometres from the top. Michael Storer and Romain Grégoire stayed in contact for a little longer, and eventually finished in 15th and 16th positions, around a minute behind the winner and new leader Mattias Skjelmose.
It was already time for the first summit finish on the 2023 Tour de Suisse. After a time trial and a sprint stage, the climbers had their chance to shine on Tuesday to Villars-sur-Ollon. After one hundred kilometres, the peloton had to get over the Col des Mosses (13.5 km at 4%) and the final climb(10.7 km at 7.8%) to complete this first GC day. In the morning, Stefan Küng was still in the lead overall, five seconds in front of the world champion Remco Evenepoel. “Today, we were focused on defending Stefan’s jersey, who wanted to put on a fight, but we also had a GC perspective with Michael,” said Sébastien Joly. “The guys controlled and worked well, especially Miles and Sam at the start behind the breakaway”. At the head of the race, Alexander Kamp, Lilian Calmejane, Nickolas Zukowsky, and Paul Ourselin wereconstantly maintained under four minutes. “We just wanted to honour the yellow jersey and contribute at the start, then we quickly received help from the Soudal-Quick Step”, said Stefan. “In any way, we knew it was going to speed up as we approached the first climb of the day because every team wanted to place their leaders. The guys kept us well in front with Michael”. The gap with the breakaway was almost closed in this climb, where the peloton was also reduced to around sixty riders under poor weather.
“There are still great opportunities to come”, Stefan Küng
The last fugitives were caught in the wet descent, which also created some splits in the pack. After going through Aigle, the riders soon tackled the final climb to Villars-sur-Ollon. “I had an ideal position approaching the last climb, but the pace was very, very fast right from the bottom because Evenepoel wanted to make it hard”, said Stefan. “It was difficult for me and there were no surprises. At one point, I no longer managed to follow the best and so I took my own pace. I wanted to honour the yellow jersey and put on a fight butgiven my preparation and the fact that the GC wasn’t a goal, this is not surprising”. “Stefan fought really well”, claimedSébastien. “Last year, on this kind of slopes, he managed to hold on. It was a bit harder today, but although he lost the jersey, he still did well”. The Swiss rider was distanced with six kilometres to go and reached the line three minutes behindthe winner Mattias Skjelmose, who also took his jersey. Michael Storer and Romain Grégoire, meanwhile, remained in a chasing group for a long time after Remco Evenepoel made a sharp attack. The young Frenchman was distanced a little before the Australian, but at the finish, the two men finished one behind the other.
Slightly dropped from the group he was in, Michael Storer got15th place at 53 seconds while the Frenchman obtained 16th ten seconds later. “Romain was rather there to help, but we told him not to have limits, so he kept pushing and managed to follow Michael’s group for a while,” added Sébastien. Overall, the recent winner of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque is now the best man for Groupama-FDJ, in 13th position, 1’29 down. His “Aussie” teammate is 16th at 1’47 while Stefan Küng fellto 27th place. “I am happy with the two days in yellow and the stage victory”, recalled the latter. “I want to say a big thank you to the guys for their work over the past few days. We will now look forward to the next stages, perhaps with breakaways, and with a sprint for Arnaud. There are still great opportunities to come. Personally, I can’t wait for the second time trial on Sunday.” In the meantime, the peloton will head towards another climbing stage tomorrow, which will especially include Crans-Montana before a succession of climbs to reach Leukerbad.
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