Hugh Carthy (GBR/ED1) won the royal stage after a long solo escape.
In a thrilling showdown with Rohan Dennis (AUS/TBM), Egan Bernal (COL/INS) defended his lead in the overall classification and was celebrated as the overall winner of the 83rd Tour de Suisse in Goms. Patrick Konrad (AUT/BOH) completed the podium in third place.
At 22 years and 5 months, Bernal is the third youngest winner of the Tour de Suisse. The Colombian is considered the most talented young professional of the present day. In the Tour de France he will most likely be in the service of his Ineos team captain Geraint Thomas (GBR).
The basis for his second triumph of the season after Paris – Berner had laid the foundations for his second triumph of the season after Nice with his arrival in Flumserberg, his stage victory on the Gotthard Pass and a strong performance in the time trial in Goms.
Although Bernal had to defend himself against the attacks of his opponents at the Furka Pass, the last major obstacle of the tour. In the end Dennis tried to dethrone the first one. But Bernal showed himself to be on his guard. In the end, 19 seconds were enough for the Colombian to take the overall victory. “This triumph gives me great confidence,” Bernal said.
The Swiss professional cyclists were not able to intervene in the fight for the overall victory. After all, Patrick Schelling (SUI/SUI) achieved a highly respectable result with his 11th final place, and Mathias Frank (ALM) achieved a 4th stage place on the last day.
Hugh Carthy (GBR/ED1) came up with a performance rarely seen in modern cycling. The Briton was one of the first attackers on the final day, covering almost the entire distance of the royal stage alone at the front. The outsider Carthy not only celebrated the most important triumph of his career in Goms. On the Nufenen, Gotthard and Furka Passes, he secured so many points that he could even claim to be the mountain king of the round trip. Actually, Carthy said that the arrival on the Gotthard on Friday was supposed to be a peak performance. But the head and body would not have played a part in that. Now he was happy that two days later it finally worked out.
At the end of the 83rd tour of the country, the Tour Directorate drew a thoroughly positive balance. Sports Director David Loosli: “The quality of the stage locations and the generally good weather caused an overwhelming crowd of spectators to march from Emmental to Goms. The very good cooperation with the cantonal authorities and local officials has been particularly beneficial to us during the short-term reconstruction of the royal stage”. The enthusiasm at the track is reflected in the media figures. TV transmission on SRF 2 has reached daily peaks of well over 90,000 viewers with market shares of up to 33 percent. On the social media #tourdesuisse has achieved record values. The Twitter video of the Sagan victory in Murten registered 43,000 views.
The 84th Tour de Suisse will take place from 6 to 14 June 2020. The start in Frauenfeld and the finish in Andermatt will form the geographical cornerstones.
