Loaning out the yellow jersey for a day to Michael Matthews, BMC Racing took back control of the general classification at the Tour de Suisse with Damiano Caruso moving into the race lead after stage 4. The Italian joins Rohan Dennis and Stefan Kung in leading the race in 2017 and sits 15 seconds clear of Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo).
Second, on the first hilltop finish of the race to Villars-sur-Ollon, Caruso jumped from fourth to first as several of his GC rivals suffered and lost time. The yellow jersey is the second WorldTour leader's jersey of 2017 for Caruso who enjoyed a stint in blue at Tirreno-Adriatico.
"It feels really nice to have the yellow jersey. It was so hot today and after a really hard day of racing like that, it feels incredible to wear this jersey," said Caruso. "My BMC Racing Team teammates were really amazing. They were around me all day and protected me. Tejay van Garderen was especially strong on the last climb and other guys were able to put me in the right position at the key moments."
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Since joining BMC in 2015, Caruso has largely ridden as a domestique for the team's Grand Tour leaders although he impressed with eighth place overall at the 2015 Giro. At next month's Tour de France, the 29-year-old will be riding in support of Richie Porte and explained he is first aiming to make the most of his personal opportunities in Switzerland.
"On the last climb, I tried to follow the best riders and in the end, I surprised myself because I was able to take second place and the bonus seconds. I am really happy about this and I will enjoy this jersey and see what happens over the next few days," he added. "Tomorrow is a long stage and the goal will be to keep safe and keep the jersey. After that we will see what happens."
The team's sports director Jackson Stewart echoed Caruso's praise of van Garderen and the team's effort to regain the yellow jersey.
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