Cycling star Tadej Pogacar once again showed restraint at the Tour de Suisse, but was still able to celebrate.
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. He left 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.
Heavy rain showers
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, thanks largely to his 70 km solo, Pogacar continues to have a lead of 2:50 minutes over Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) from Ecuador. The Slovenian largely held back from heavy rain showers on Friday.
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.