Nicolas Roche faced the 19.2km TT today at the Tour de Suisse and it proved to be a stage on which the GC men didn't dominate. The Irish riders comes out of it with his top 10 overall place intact.
Nicolas Roche has retained a place in the top 10 at the Tour de Suisse after today's stage 8 TT in Goms.
The 19.2km test was not dominated by the general classification men; those who held back a little on the climbs of the last couple of days feeling the benefit today.
While Rohan Dennis (Bahrain Merida) won the opening 9.5km TT a week ago, he could only manage 6th today as the need to ride hard in the mountains yesterday and the previous day took their toll.
Instead, it was Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-QuickStep), only 15th in the stage 1 TT a week ago, came through today to win, clearer in fresher condition that the men vying for the overall.
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The 28-year-old Belgian won today by five seconds from his team mate Kasper Asgreen of Denmark.
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And it was another Dane, Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb), who placed 3td today at 10 seconds.
Dennis proved best of the general classification men, losing 19 seconds to the winner and gaining time on his general classification rivals.
However, while he put time into yellow jersey Egan Bernal (Team Ineos), he still trails him by 22 seconds with just one stage remaining./
Today Bernal, who nearly crashed out on the course, placed 11th at 38 seconds; a good showing for a man not renowned against the watch.
Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) placed 56th in the test, at 1:32. And while he lost time, he only slipped one place overall; from 9th this morning to 10th after today's stage.
The race concludes tomorrow with a brutal 101km stage, again starting and finishing in Goms.
It
features three HC climbs, the last one followed by 23.5km to the finish, about
half of it downhill.
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