Luxembourg rider Kim Kirchen won at the Tour of Switzerland to give Team Columbia-Highroad its fifth victory from seven stages, while Tadej Valjavec of Slovenia kept his overall lead on Friday.
Kirchen timed 4 hours, 56 minutes, 41 seconds as he seized the lead in the final stages of the 204km stage.
Defending champion Roman Kreuziger of the Czech Republic trailed by two seconds after failing to carry his late break to the finish line and Peter Velits of Slovakia was seven seconds down in third.
Valjavec kept his overall lead for a fourth day. The AG2R-La Mondiale rider has a nine-second advantage on home favorite Fabian Cancellara, who placed sixth on the stage.
Kirchen became the fourth Team Columbia-Highroad rider to win a stage in the nine-day race. Sprinter Mark Cavendish has two stage wins, while Bernhard Eisel and Michael Albasini also have victories for the US team.
With only 68 seconds covering the first 12 riders in the overall classification, the eighth stage offers some hope to the climbers.
The 182km trek from Le Sentier to the ski station of Crans-Montana finishes on a category one slope. The race ends with a time trial stage today.
■TOUR DE FRANCE
AFP, PARIS
Cyclists in next month’s Tour de France are to be banned from wearing radio-link headphones as an experimental safety measure, event organizers said on Friday.
The measure, affecting just two stages in this year’s event — Limoges to Issoudun on July 14 and Vittel to Colmar on July 17 — means team managers will have to revert to communicating with racers by traditional methods, including showing blackboard messages.
Radio links enabling team managers to give instructions to riders have been in general use since the 1990s.
“This measure is not being imposed by the Tour de France, but represents the application of the Highway Code,” Tour sporting director Jean-Francois Pescheux said. “It is aimed at preventing something dramatic happening one day.”
In another measure, staff traveling in the accompanying support cars will no longer be allowed to watch TV coverage of the race which starts at Monaco on July 4, Tour authorities said.
Police motorcyclists are also trained to signal potential hazards to the cyclists.
“In the case of an emergency affecting the course, such as a street demonstration or a roadside fire, we have in the past been able to warn the riders very quickly,” Pescheux said.
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