2021 Tour de Suisse: Rigoberto Urán Dominates Stage 7 Time Trial

Rigoberto Urán put in a monster performance to take victory during Saturday’s stage of the Tour de Suisse. 

The riders took on a 23.2 kilometer long mountain time trial over the Oberalppass climb to Andermatt. The climb itself was 9.5 kilometers long, with an average gradient of 6.5 percent. 

Urán, who started the day in fifth place on the general classification, navigated the course extremely well. The Colombian finished his ride with a time of 36:02, which was good for an average speed of 38.631 kilometers per hour. 

When it was all said and done, Urán had won the stage by 40 seconds ahead of Julian Alaphilippe. Race leader Richard Carapaz lost 54 seconds to Urán, finishing fourth in the process. However, the Ecuadorian was able to preserve his GC lead by a margin of 17 seconds.

This was the first win for Urán since 2018, and the first WorldTour victory since Stage 9 of the  2017 Tour de France. It truly was a vintage performance from the 34-year-old, who had not raced since the end of March prior to the start of the Tour de Suisse.

Urán’s decision to train rather than race seems to have rewarded him with some great legs just in time for the Tour de France. EF Education-Nippo have yet to release their team for the Tour, but the assumption is that Urán will lead the team. If that is indeed the case, this result could be a great building block.

Tour de Suisse Finale

The Tour de Suisse concludes tomorrow with a mountainous stage eight. The course features the same Oberalppass climb the riders took on today, as well as a second category one climb and an HC climb for good measure. 

After Urán’s ride today, the GC picture has gotten a lot more interesting heading into the final stage.

#TourDeSuisse – GC after Stage 7 pic.twitter.com/g5Nneb7h9j

— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) June 12, 2021

With the top three riders separated by less than a minute, the race is very much still in the balance. 

Richard Carapaz is still the favorite, but Urán showed today that he has the ability to push the Ineos man all the way to the line. The mountains on tomorrow’s stage profile should encourage an exciting battle between the two South American stars. 

Tomorrow is also the final WorldTour event prior to the start of the Tour de France. La Grande Boucle is right around the corner.

– Andrew Fasciano (@afasc573)