Cycling: Thibaut Pinot won the seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse with a strong performance on the final climb. The Frenchman was part of a 14-man breakaway and proved to be the strongest climber on the final climb. In the fight for yellow, things got down to business. Sergio Higuita conquered the leader's jersey. Tomorrow there will be the decisive time trial in Vaduz.
Thibaut Pinot keeps his pace – and wins
The seventh day of the Tour de Suisse was also a day for the escape group. 14 drivers were able to break away from the main field after the start, including well-known professionals such as Thibaut Pinot (Groupama – FDJ), Ion Izaguirre (Cofidis), alexey lutsenko (Astana) and Fausto Masnada (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl). As expected, the breakaway group fell apart at the beginning of the final ascent. The Spaniard Ion Izagirre initially proved to be the strongest climber. He was able to immediately break away from his former companions and seemingly headed for a solo victory. But three kilometers before the end, his strength left him. Thibaut Pinot raced from behind and managed his strength perfectly. The Frenchman is finally celebrating a personal success again. Most recently, the injury-plagued Pinot won a Tour of the Alps stage in April, following his Tour stage win in 2019.
Sergio Higuita conquers yellow
Of course, the favorites also exchanged blows on the 194,6-kilometer stage from Ambri to Malbun. The final climb was made for that. It was 12,6 kilometers up to Malbun with an average incline of 8,7 percent. This used Sergio Higuita (Bora – hansgrohe) in order to gain a few more seconds before tomorrow's time trial - and he succeeded. He drew Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Jakob Fuglsang (Israel – Premier Tech) escaped to take the yellow jersey. But it's a fight for every second. Tomorrow the Tour de Suisse will be decided against the clock. I have to cover 25,6 kilometers starting and finishing in Vaduz. The time trial is flat and thus suits the specialists.
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) goes to the Etapa 7 del Tur de Suiza 2022 #TDS2022 #tourdesuisse2022 #ciclismo #Noticiclismo pic.twitter.com/rWHcqyTjKA
— NotiCiclismo ▶ #TourdeSuisse2022 (@Noticiclismo1) June 18, 2022