French rider Thibaut Pinot of FDJ remained in the lead of the Tour de Suisse on Saturday after Astana cyclist Alexey Lutsenko won the eighth and penultimate stage.
Kazakhstan’s Lutsenko took the honors over the 152.5km stage in and around Bern.
Belgium’s Jan Bakelants of AG2R and France’s Warren Barguil of the Giant team came in second and third respectively.
Photo: EPA
“This is the biggest win of my career,” former under-23 world champion Lutsenko said.
“I paced my attack 20km from the finish. I wasn’t too worried about Bakelants, as I knew I could beat him in a sprint,” Lutsenko said.
Pinot again lost time in the overall standings, as closest rival Geraint Thomas of the Sky team chipped three seconds off the Frenchman’s lead.
He has now surrendered a total of 13 seconds over the last three stages, which could prove costly in the concluding stage, a 38km time trial on the streets of Bern scheduled for yesterday.
Pinot took an overall lead of 34 seconds over Thomas into yesterday’s finale, while Slovenia’s Simon Spilak was 47 seconds off the lead.
ROUTE DE SUD
BAGNHRES-DE-LUCHON, France
Alberto Contador underlined his Tour de France potential in beating Nairo Quintana to win the third stage of the Route du Sud on Saturday.
Although there is still another stage to go in the four-day race across the south of France, Saturday’s 181km mountainous run from Izaourt to Bagneres-de-Luchon in the Pyrenees was always viewed as the decisive stage.
The 32-year-old Tinkoff-Saxo leader attacked Colombian Quintana on the final climb of the day, but although he could not drop him, Contador made the difference on the descent into the finish.
He came home 13 seconds ahead of the Movistar leader and will almost certainly now win the race.
Both riders sprung a surprise by entering the Route du Sud instead of traditional pre-Tour de France warm-up races the Criterium du Dauphine or Tour de Suisse.
For both, it is their final race before the Grand Boucle begins on July 4 in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
They are to be among the favorites for overall victory alongside champion Vincenzo Nibali and the man he deposed, Chris Froome.
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