Preview - Tour de Suisse 2022 stage 1

The opening stage of the Tour de Suisse will see the puncheurs and climbers come to the fore – as will be the case on most day. It’s a hilly day where the start and finish are in the town of Küsnacht, and the riders will face a tough circuit.

This is a stage that's unlikely to see much GC action, however the climbers will have an opportunity to deal an early blow and can take advantage of it.

Stage 1: Küsnacht - Küsnacht, 177Km

The final circuit has 45 kilometers in distance and will be ridden three times – although in reality, most of it is ridden four times. There are two main features, one of them being the third category climb of Pfannenstiel with 19.5Km to go (3.9Km at 4.9%).

Küsnachter: 2.7Km; 8.2% average gradient; 4.5Km to go

After a small descent the riders will face the final ascent, relatively harder. The climb into Küsnachter Berg which features 2.7 kilometers at 8.2%, with it’s hardest gradients towards the center. It summits with 4.5 kilometers to go, and then a set of rolling roads will lead the riders into the finish line.

CyclingUpToDate prediction:

**** Remco Evenepoel

*** Marc Hirschi, Aleksandr Vlasov

** Daniel Martínez, Tom Pidcock, Max Schachmann

* Michael Matthews, Sergio Higuita, Adam Yates, Benoît Cosnefroy