The Dauphiné is still yet to finish but just up north of the Alps the Tour de Suisse is about to start, carrying another load of riders taking their final step in preparation for the Tour in a race suited for all kinds of riders to get in some very big wins.
The Route
The opening time-trial, in to set some small differences already at the beginning.
Opening road stage, a classic hilly one with lots of possible scenarios for a win, will be interesting and likely see a lead change early on.
The most sprinter-like stage in the race but unfortunately it's also one that looks very bright for a possible breakaway.
The riders will finish in Gap... Wait no, nevermind this isn't the Tour.
Leukeurbad with another very interesting finale. Going up the valleys of the upper Rhone is always a difficult thing, there is a complicated combination of climbs set to light the ski station on fire.
A beautiful Suisse stage, with high altitude passes, long climbs and a finale that allows lots of surprises to be possible.
The mountain ITT with a very fast, technical descent into Andermatt where the weekend will be based on.
The queen stage, a brutal stage with beastly climbs and altitude in the mix, perfect raiding territory and the ideal way to finish any race.
Weather for the Week
Not the brightest, summer is just around the corner but it's likely to see some days marked by rain this week.
GC Contenders
Unfortunately the decisive stages are all towards the end of the race so likely we'll see quite a lot of riders riding the first half of the race conservatively to have their best legs in the mountains, so we should see most only come to the front in the high mountains but when they do there will be a big spectacle, with lots of quality climbers with different skillsets coming over for a GC tilt, in a race that shouldn't ever be easy to control.
Ineos, like in the Dauphiné, seem to come with the strongest collective as Richard Carapaz is looking towards the Tour and coming here for competition, he has in support (or possible co-leadership) in Rohan Dennis and Pavel Sivakov. Like Sivakov there are other GC contenders that came over from the Giro, mostly due to having crashed out like Marc Soler coming in for Movistar and Domenico Pozzovivo for Qhubeka, I would also consider Bora who have in Matteo Fabbro who disapointed at the Giro and is possibly only getting to form now, he'll be leading the team alongside Max Schachmann, same example could be given with Gino Mader who abandoned the Giro after a big win and KOM jersey, he should be part of the Bahrain trident alongside Wout Poels and Hermann Pernsteiner.
Of those eyeing the Tour GC, who may ot be at their best for sure we'll see some names too, would expect that from Michael Woods, Rigoberto Uran and Jakob Fuglsang who will be eyeing future races more than here and maybe not taking too many risks, although GC at the Tour may not be fair to say but Julian Alaphilippe will be targeting the Tour aswell and may not be in peak form yet, he will be the team leader but Mauri Vansevenant has given more than enough reasons to cover that role if necessary too.
Furthemore I expect to see BikeExchange do well, Lucas Hamilton and Esteban Chaves are a very good duo who will be targeting the Tour but can do very well here in a more agressive scenario, we have UAE who come in with Rui Costa, Marc Hirschi and David de la Cruz who will be at the Tour too targeting stages and supporting Pogacar, here they may skip GC fight but with suiting opening days I am sure at least Hirschi will be eyeing it. Finally we have Tiesj Benoot who usually does good in week-long stage-races and leading Jumbo will be Antwan Tolhoek and the great Tom Dumoulin who makes his long awaited return to the peloton!
The Sprinters
In the sprinter field we've also got some riders coming in, going for stages and eyeing the Tour for peak form, most notably the presence of Mathieu van der Poel will make things interesting in those finales as he's not the fastest finisher but brilliant for the punchy climbs, he has suiting competition in Michael Matthews though who is essentially the same type of rider. This should be the main battle, however we can expect the likes of Mike Teunissen, Edward Theuns, Christophe Laporte to be in the fight aswell, and teams like UAE and Israel bring in more than one option as in the first you've got Ryan Gibbons and Juan Sebastian Molano, whilst the latter has the successful Giro duo of Davide Cimolai and Patrick Bevin gunning for a stage win that has yet to show up for them.
Prediction Time
⭐ Schachmann, Alaphilippe, Hirschi, Woods, Fuglsang, Uran, Poels, Hamilton, Soler, Tolhoek
I think Ineos will be coming in hard, another strong squad they bring and Richard Carapaz is the superior climber in this race, who will also benefit from the altitude to bring in a confident win ahead of the Tour.
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