The Tour de Suisse is one of the most important stage-races in the year. It is the final big test before the Tour de France and a few of the Tour's stars race in Switzerland; an eight-day race that features plenty mountains, time-trials and a few days for the classics specialists. The race takes place from the 9th to 16th of June. We preview stage 8.
The race ends where the previous stage also ended. The exact same finish line for two days of racing actually, which is quite rare in professional cycling - even more so when this is on a climb. The stage starts off in Aigle, more specifically the headquarters of the UCI. The first 5 kilometers will be flat, and on the time-trial bikes, the riders will try to save as much as possible for the climb where the stage - and possibly the overall classification - will be decided.
The 15-kilometer long time-trial then features the climb to Villars-Sur-Ollon once again. It does not start in the same location as stage 6, but the ascent is still 10.2 kilometers long at 8%. A very difficult ascent capable of creating big differences, all the way to the line.
Yates enters the time-trial with 31 seconds over teammate Almeida. Both have worked perfectly to virtually seal their victory in the race, but certainly both will have their ambitions on this final day of racing, and on a time-trial the effort is relatively different than a regular stage. The short distances and need for a pacing strategy can also lead to an interesting result on the day.
The Map
Prediction Tour de Suisse 2024 stage 8:
*** Adam Yates, João Almeida
** Matthew Riccitello, Mattias Skjelmose, Egan Bernal
* João Almeida, Enric Mas, Wilco Kelderman, Oscar Onley, Tom Pidcock, Felix Gall, Isaac Del Toro
Pick: João Almeida
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