The Tour of Switzerland, the last test before the Tour de France and one of the seven ‘big’ one-week calendar, the only one that Roglic is missing to close the circle and it will continue like this for the momentsince the Slovenian will not be present in this Tour of Switzerland, which will be held from Sunday to Sunday. However, the list of participants is of many carats, starting with Remco Evenepoel, after his abrupt abandonment in the Giro due to COVID, Wout van Aert, in his preparation to be more than a squire for Vingegaard on the Tour and who returns after Paris-Roubaix, Juan Ayuso, in his second test of the season with La Back as a great goal… and more riders to watch out for like Tom Pidcock, Sergio Higuita, Alexey Lutsenko, host Stefen Küng and Peter Sagan, in his senior year and in one of his favorite races.
In Spanish key, in addition to Ayuso, they will be Ion Izagirre, Pello Bilbao, Jonathan Lastra and a Movistar with six of their seven national riders except for Norsgaard. The last tickets for the Tour de France are up for grabs. It will be a very demanding Tour of Switzerland, tough, mountainous and with two tests against the clock: the opening and the final. The first will be 12.7 km to decide the winner, while the last day will consist of 25.7 km that will serve to meet this year’s champion… although it seems likely that the three days in the mountains, which will also They will play consecutively (third, fourth and fifth day) make things quite clear. For the sprinters there will be, perhaps, two opportunities, in the second and the seventh stage, while the sixth day, with broken terrain, invites a break or, failing that, a reduced volata.
The mountain begins on Tuesday with a summit finish in Villars-sur-Ollon, then on Wednesday awaits the climb to Crans-Montana (1st and which was already a protagonist a few weeks ago in the Giro) and Dorben (1st) on the way to Leukerbad, and on the fifth day, the day reigns supreme with the Furka (Special) and Oberalp (1st) starting and Albula (Special) before descending towards the La Punt finish line. The last time Evenepoel wore a number, on May 16 in the ninth stage of the Giro, it was in a time trial that he won before retiring. Now, come back before a time trial, and the hard mountain will dictate if the world champion can overcome this great test. Van der Poel was also going to be at this event, although at the last minute the Dutchman changed his objectives “so as not to be in the groups in Switzerland”. help, who was only in romandiavictory in time trial included, will be wrapped by Jay Vinewhile Pidcock will wear the number 1 since his teammate Geraint Thomas, absent in the test after caressing the Giro, was the champion in 2022. Switzerland, test for some and revalidation for others.