Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin) soloed to victory at the Tiefenbach Glacier above Sölden to move into a commanding position atop the overall standings at the Tour de Suisse with two stages remaining.
Spilak forged clear almost 9 kilometres from the summit after his Katusha-Alecpin teammate Rein Taaramae had produced a startling display of pace-making that dramatically whittled down the front group at the base of the climb, with yellow jersey Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) among the first of the contenders to be distanced.
Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale-Drapac) was the last man to stay with Spilak after Taaramae swung off with 10 kilometres to go, but he, too, had to yield to Spilak’s relentless tempo on a mountain pass that climbed to 2,700 metres above sea level.
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Spilak contended to extend his advantage on the long haul that followed, and well before he entered the lengthy tunnel that led to the summit, it was clear that he would emerge on the other side as the stage winner and as the new leader of the Tour de Suisse, with his rivals scattering at various points beneath him on the mountainside.
“Yesterday I had a bit of a crisis on the last climb and I was behind, but today I had good legs when I woke up,” Spilak said with considerable understatement. “My team helped me a lot and I’m very happy.”
Jon Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida), who had been dropped 10 kilometres from the top with Damiano Caruso (BMC) and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), recovered sufficiently near the top to take second place on the stage, 22 seconds behind Spilak. Dombrowski stuck admirably to his task all the way up the climb, but the American had to settle for third place on the stage, 36 seconds down.
How it unfolded
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