Cycling star Tadej Pogacar was once again reserved at the Tour de Suisse, but was still able to celebrate at the end. His teammate won the third stage.
After his inimitable opening solo and the shock of his fiancée Urska Zigart’s fall, the world champion from the UAE Emirates-XRG racing team refrained from his feared attacks on the third stage, leaving the stage to a teammate: Jhonatan Narváez crowned his long escape with victory.
The Ecuadorian drove almost 100 kilometers in front with his colleague Xandro Meurisse (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) from Belgium. In front of the approaching peloton, Narváez, who had recently won three stages at the Giro d’Italia, prevailed in the sprint.
Pogacar still remains in the lead. After 157.4 kilometers with two mountain classifications in the second highest category, the 27-year-old crossed the finish line in Bad Ragaz with the peloton in twelfth place. In the overall ranking, mainly thanks to his 70 km solo, Pogacar still has a lead of 2:50 minutes over Tokyo Olympic champion Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) from Ecuador. Pogacar largely held back on Friday amid heavy rain showers.
Pogacar returned to racing after his victory at the Tour de Romandie at the beginning of May to prepare for the Tour after an outstanding spring season. At the Grand Loop, which starts on July 4th in Barcelona, the 27-year-old can catch up with the record winners with his fifth victory.
On Saturday there is a largely flat individual time trial over 23.7 kilometers on the program before the tour ends with an endurance test on Sunday. Almost 4,500 meters of altitude await the peloton; the dreaded Col de la Croix has to be conquered a total of three times.