TIME TO CLIMB
TOUR DE SUISSE 6-13 June | Switzerland | 2.UWT
Tradition dictates that riders who want to win the Tour have to choose between the Tour de Suisse or Critérium du Dauphiné as their final preparation race. No other two stage races at this time of year are as tough and pack in as many days and as many climbs. But going back to 2007, of the nine Tour winners, only two of them chose the Tour de Suisse as their last finetuner before winning the yellow jersey. Andy Schleck raced in Switzerland in 2010, although he was retrospectively awarded the Tour title - Alberto Contador, who was DQed, favoured the Dauphiné. Then Egan Bernal did it in 2019.
While the Dauphiné offers more recovery time, the latter has something the French race doesn’t, in its two time trials this year, to match those in the Tour. That, plus the climbing, could tempt a few more Tour favourites to Switzerland this year.