France’s Pierre-Roger Latour on Wednesday claimed the Tour de Suisse lead after a testing fifth stage that was won by Colombia’s Darwin Atapuma.
Latour, riding for AG2R La Mondiale, snatched the yellow jersey from Slovakia’s Peter Sagan of Tinkoff with a third-placed finish behind Atapuma, riding for BMC Racing, and France’s Warren Barguil of Giant–Alpecin.
The 126km run from Brig-Glis to Cari was the first of three mountain stages and featured three tough climbs, two of which were hors category.
Photo: EPA
The mountains proved a testing time for Sagan, 26, who lost more than 19 minutes to Latour, trailing in 70th.
Latour, 22, crossed the line seven seconds behind Atapuma at the end of the second of two hors-category climbs up to the ski station at Cari.
Renowned climber Atapuma relished the mountainous terrain. He made his ultimately successful bid for stage glory 6km from the end.
In the overall standings, Latour leads by a whisker from Dutch rider Wilco Kelderman of LottoNL–Jumbo. Wales’ Geraint Thomas of Team Sky is placed third, five seconds behind, with Barguil fourth, 16 seconds away.
“This jersey is unexpected,” Latour said. “I came to the Tour of Switzerland without any real goals. To win a stage, to try to do something in the GC [general classification], to test myself for the future and now I find myself leader of a UCI World Tour race. It is hard to take on board.”
Yesterday’s sixth stage was a 162.8km ride, once again suiting the climbers in the peloton, with the Klausen Pass the day’s toughest ascent with another climb to the finish at Amden.
“There are still two big days in the mountains, and a time trial,” Latour added. “It is going to be very tough, but we have got a great team and I will be fighting right to the end.”
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