Former Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas is about to win the Tour de Suisse for the first time.
The Brit had to cede the yellow jersey to the Colombian Sergio Higuita from the German Bora-hansgrohe team on the mountain stage over 194.6 kilometers from Ambri to Malbun, but as a strong time trialist he should be two seconds behind in the final fight against the clock on Sunday make up easily.
Meanwhile, the seventh stage was won by Frenchman Thibaut Pinot ahead of Spaniard Óscar Rodríguez and Kazakh Alexej Luzenko. Higuita was fourth, eleven seconds ahead of Thomas. The best German was champion Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) in 16th place.
The previous overall leader Jakob Fuglsang meanwhile lost important seconds and the jersey in seventh place. The Dane is now 19 seconds back overall third. On Sunday there will be an individual time trial over 25.6 kilometers in Vaduz.
The Bora team meanwhile lost the third driver because of a positive corona test. The tour was over for the Austrian Marco Haller, after the Russian Alexander Vlassov and the German Anton Palzer had previously been hit.
In total, more than 40 riders have already had to end the Tour de Suisse due to the Corona summer wave. The Alpecin-Fenix, Bahrain-Victorious, Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates teams withdrew from the race entirely.