Professional cyclist Juan Ayuso has won the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse. The Spaniard from the UAE Team Emirates prevailed on the king’s stage over 211 kilometers and three Alpine passes from Fiesch to La Punt on the decisive climb and moved up to third place in the overall standings over road bike world champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step).
The yellow jersey of the overall leader was taken back by the Dane Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) from the Austrian Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën Team). The Tübingen professional Marius Mayrhofer (Team DSM) had to give up the race.
Even before the first big climb of the hardest stage, a group of 30 around the Belgian Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) tried to escape to the front and temporarily gained a lead of three and a half minutes. In the peloton, Gall’s Team AG2R kept up the pace to keep their man in the lead. Ayuso had the strongest legs at the Albula Pass, then the 20-year-old showed downhill qualities on the way to the finish line and secured the day’s win.
The longest stage awaits the field of riders on Friday. After another crossing over the Albula Pass, this time from the opposite side, it’s a total of 215.3 kilometers to Oberwil-Lieli. The constant ups and downs in the last quarter of the race could lead to breakaway attempts again.