Despite having only two riders besides him, Higuita jumps into Suisse lead with massive performance in Malbun

The Tour de Suisse suffered some rearrangements today in the overall classification as Jakob Fuglsang struggled on the slopes of Malbun, and Sergio Higuita took the opportunity to deal a big blow and jump into the race lead.

The day didn't start well off, as yet another rider from BORA - hansgrohe - Marco Haller - abandoned the race with Covid-19, leaving only Higuita, Max Schachmann and Felix Grossschartner left. It was not possible to control the breakaway, however the German team did not have the responsibility and managed to use it's weapons to the max in the final climb. "We knew that the last part of the climb was particularly steep after a short flat section and so our plan was to attack with Felix and then with Max. Felix, however, didn't feel so good in the finale," Higuita said.

The pace was hard from the base with Daniel Martínez trying to keep the race under control and compact until as late as possible. However, fellow Colombian Higuita took advantage of that work and attacked in the final kilometers of the ascent. "After Fuglsang went and Thomas followed him, I launched my attack. I knew that I am not a time trial specialist, so I had to get valuable seconds here before tomorrow's stage," Higuita added.

His plan worked. Although the stage win was in front, Higuita was the fastest up the final climb, and took 11 seconds on Geraint Thomas - besides the 29 on Jakob Fuglsang. This took him into the yellow jersey after he started the day in third place.

"It will be hard to compete with Thomas, who is a time trial specialist, but we will give it our all again tomorrow and do our best," he concluded. The Colombian will nevertheless not be the favourite to take the overall win, as he carries only a two-second buffer over Geraint Thomas into tomorrow's 25-kilometer long time-trial.

Nevertheless, after Aleksandr Vlasov abandoned the race, Higuita will be looking to make up for the disappointment that has marked the team.