Preview - Tour de Suisse 2022 stage 3

Third day of the Tour de Suisse sees the peloton back on the hills, however this time with a different dynamic as the finale is more flat, but the first two thirds of the day are relatively hard.

The day starts off with a difficult ascent, of the already ridden Eichenberg (3Km at 7.4%) which is likely to see a strong breakaway go up the road. This is in fact a day that could favour a breakaway as it’s not hard enough to attack the overall classification but it’s too hard for a regular sprint.

The climbs with 120 (8.2Km; 4.5%), 110 (3.3Km; 8.8%) and 93.5 (5.4Km; 8.6%) kilometers to go are quite hard and here is where the peloton may have to opt between loosing units to keep the breakaway under control, or go slower and risk to not have enough road to bring the gap back later on the day. Another ascent with 61 (7.4Km; 4.9%) will be the last long ascent of the day, and the rolling roads that follow won’t be easy to chase but will also be easier to have an organized chase.

The final climbs come with 48 (2.4Km; 5.8%) and 16.5 (1.2Km; 6.2%) will not be as complicated, and are big-ring climbs. Inbetween and afterwards there will be one passage through the finish line in Grenchen, and some flat roads where the peloton can organize. In a breakaway it will be hard to establish a gap, which can make for very interesting dynamics as the riders head into the famous velodrome.

**** Michael Matthews

*** Alex Aranburu, Bryan Coquard

** Alberto Bettiol, Patrick Bevin, Stefano Oldani

* Marc Hirschi, Max Schachmann, Kasper Asgreen, Andreas Kron