Yves Lampaert (BEL/DQT) decides the time trial in his own favour.
Egan Bernal (COL/INS) tackles Sunday’s final leg as the overall leader. The giant talent from South America defended his yellow leader jersey in the individual time trial in Obergoms.
Bernal tackles the 3-pass route via Nufenen, Gotthard and Furka with a 22-second lead over Rohan Dennis (AUS/TBM). The time trial world champion obviously paid for his efforts, which he had to do in the Flumserberg on Thursday and on Friday on the Gotthard.
At the intermediate time Bernal was 19 seconds behind Dennis. At the finish line, the difference was exactly the same, although the overall first placed driver could only avoid a fall with acrobatic skill in a sharp left turn. “I was really very lucky then,” Bernal breathed a sigh of relief after his mission.
Yves Lampaert (BEL/DQT) had to be patient for almost one and a half hours before he could be celebrated as Seiger in Obergoms. The Belgian road champion covered the 19.2 km with the remarkable hourly average of 52.422 km/h. “I can hardly believe it. I am very surprised that I was able to win this time trial,” said the Belgian after his triumph.
The test against the clock brought another disappointment for Stefan Küng (SUI/GFC). Last year, he was the dominator of the final time trial in Bellinzona, but on the technically demanding track in Obergoms, the man from Eastern Switzerland was losing time continuously. Instead of a triumph, only 7th place resulted for Küng: “I have no explanation why things didn’t go better. “After two miles, I had the feeling that things weren’t going the way I wanted.”
Patrick Schelling (SUI/SUI) held up well with his 44th stage rank. The man from St. Gallen tackles the final stage in 11th place as the best Swiss rider.
