In the jersey of the Italian road champion Elia Viviani (DQT) celebrated his first TdS victory.

Wearing the jersey of the Italian road champion, Elia Viviani (DQT) celebrated his first stage victory in the Tour de Suisse in the imperial sprint of Arlesheim. Peter Sagan (SVK/BOH) defended his leader jersey.

About 30 km before the end the spectators were startled by a fall. A driver from Astana and Geraint Thomas (GBR/INS) were on the ground. The Welshman, who wanted to put the finishing touches to his last year’s Tour de France triumph on the Swiss roads, was forced to give up and had to be taken to hospital for further medical examinations. We hope that the Welsh man did not suffer serious injuries. In any case, our best wishes for recovery accompany him.

“The last ascent to Eichberg was harder for me than the final spurt. When I got up to the top with the field, I knew that victory was possible for me,” Viviani said in Arlesheim. The Italian was piloted into an ideal starting position by his assistant Michael Mörkov (DEN) and took advantage of the prospect of a triumph, which was also important for him because it showed him that he is again among the absolute crème de la crème of sprinters. Viviani will participate in the Tour de France for the second time in his career and hopes to take over the Maillot jaune at the end of stage 1 in Brussels.

After his helpers had dominated the whole day, Sagan (3.) was on his own in the end. Michael Matthews (AUS/SUN) was the fastest rider on the last few metres, but he had started his sprint too late.

As on Monday, it was again a quartet that played the role of animators on the 163.9 km from Murten to Arlesheim. After numerous attacks after the start Robin Carpenter (USA/RLY), Simon Geschke (GER/CCC), Taco Van der Hoorn (NED/TJV) and Gian Friesecke managed to break away from the field. In the end, the representative of the Swiss national team fought with his last ounce of strength against catching up – unfortunately in vain.