"The best climbing shape I have ever had" - The man Tadej Pogacar could not drop at the Tour de Suisse

The second day of the Tour de Suisse was one where the breakaway succeeded, but behind perhaps the most impressive performance of the day was Mathias Vacek. The Lidl-Trek rider was able to follow Tadej Pogacar's attack, something rarely seen nowadays.

“I felt good again from the start. The parcours suited me even a little bit better than yesterday, so I really believed in myself," Vacek said in words to CyclingPro.net. "I am happy that I could follow today on the climb. It is not every day that you can do that.”

The Czech rider was already showing great legs on the opening stage. But few would've expected the classics specialist, far from a light weight, to follow the yellow jersey on a short but very steep ascent.

UAE Team Emirates - XRG tried working to set up for a result in the way of Jhonatan Narváez, clearly visible as Brandon McNulty and Pogacar himself led the way up the first of the final sequence of climbs and the descent.

At first Pogacar let the wheel of Narváez go to try and aid his teammate's chances of winning the stage, but the Ecuadorian was followed by Vacek, rendering the tactic useless. Pogacar then took the front of the group, but dropped his teammate in the process.

But not Vacek, who then took upon himself to work after the climb. “It was nice to be up there with him at the front and to collaborate. In the end it was close, maybe two seconds or something, but the break was really strong.”

Vacek and Pogacar's unlikely collaboration brought benefits to both in the overall classification, but above all showed a level never before seen by the 24-year old.

“I knew I had to do my best to get the best possible result for the team. It was a fast stage and it was also hard to catch the break, especially with only UAE pulling. Anyway, it was a good day.”

Unlike previous years, Vacek did not reach his best form during the spring classics, far from it in fact. But he has proven that was circumstantial, as after a long block of training, he is back to top form.

“After the Classics season I put in some work. I had time to prepare for this race and also towards the Tour de France. This is probably the best climbing shape I have ever had," he admits. "I am definitely more confident on the climbs than ever before.”

With the differences created in the first two days, Vacek enters the conversation for the final podium. He downplays it however: “We are not really here to go for GC. The last stage is super hard with the long climbs, and I think I am still missing a little bit on climbs like that. I want to ride the time trial full gas and see how I perform. From there, we will see.”

Vacek should gain further time on his direct competition during this Saturday's time-trial, in which he will also be a favourite for the win. Whilst he is not the strongest of climbers, he can defend himself, and will be an interesting rider to watch on the queen stage that will follow.

“Yesterday I showed that I could be up there with the best, and today I tried again. It is not easy to compete against UAE and Tadej, but we will keep fighting," he concluded.