Eddie Dunbar just missed out on taking the young riders' classification jersey after today’s stage 6 at the Tour de Suisse due to a 20-second penalty imposed on him for a late feed that took place on yesterday's stage 5.
In a bizarre twist it appears the commissaires only reviewed the footage from stage 5 and imposed their sanction on Dunbar after today's stage 6. The penalty was only applied after the Irishman had been presented with the young riders' classification jersey on the podium today after stage 6.
The main objective for Ineos Grenadiers will be winning the race outright with yellow jersey Richard Carapaz over the final two stages this weekend. However, if Dunbar were to win the young riders’ classification it would be his first classification win on a WorldTour race.
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Going into today’s stage 6, which took the riders some
130.km from Fiesch to Disentis Sedrun, Dunbar was unexpectedly
elevated into the lead in the classification.
Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange) held that jersey after yesterday’s stage 5 but he was one of four riders from his team unable to start today due to gastroenteritis and so the young rider jersey passed to Dunbar for today's stage.
Eddie Dunbar would have held onto that classification lead today but for a combination of his 20-second penalty, and riders from the early breakaway and a late chase group surviving to fight for stage victory.
When Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) finished in 10th place today, and 1:49 ahead of the yellow jersey group Dunbar was in, the young Norwegian closed to within 11 seconds of Dunbar in the young riders' competition.
Ireland's Dunbar was presented with the jersey on the podium after the stage but then TV pictures from stage 5 were reviewed, his late feed spotted and the 20-second penalty imposed.
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And that meant Leknessund took the young riders' classification jersey by nine seconds from Dunbar. Neilson Powless (EF Education-Nippo) is in 3rd in that competition at 1:42 and Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal) 4th at 3:10.
Today’s stage saw a very large group of about 30 riders go clear and they were joined by others later in the stage. In the end 19 of those riders survived out front, split into pieces, ahead of the yellow jersey group.
At the front of the race, Kron pulled
clear with former world champion Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and they fought
it out for stage victory.
However, though Costa crossed the line first
he was judged to have deviated from his line in the sprint and so Kron was
promoted to winner. Costa was relegated to 2nd place; or last man in
the group of two. Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-Victorious)
was 3rd, just one second down on the two leaders.
The major drama early in the stage was a big attack by Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep). However, he came back to the bunch at around the halfway point and after the break’s advantage was being pulled back from a maximum of about two minutes.
While a huge number of riders then ended up getting clear of the peloton, the day was relatively stress-free for Ineos Grenadiers as it worked to retain Carapaz’s yellow jersey. And when the remains of the peloton, numbering just 35 riders, sprinted in for 20th place on the stage, they were 2:49 down on the stage winner.
The big general classification names were all in the
yellow jersey group and so the top of the general standings are unchanged.
Carapaz leads by 26 seconds from Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Premier Tech). Max
Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) is 3rd overall at 38 seconds and Alaphilippe is 4th
at 53 seconds.
However, some of the men who broke away today and gained time have now entered the top 15 overall and that has pushed Dunbar down five places to 16th overall; his 20-second penalty also a factor.
Tomorrow’s stage 7 is a 23.2km TT, which is up and down a 9.5km climb at 6.5 per cent. The finale on Sunday features two early cat 1 climbs before the final HC ascent of Gotthardpass. It is 13.2km at 6.7 per cent and is followed by the descent into the finish.
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