Tour de Suisse 2016 – Stage 1 Preview
By David Hunter
Baar 6.4km ITT
Welcome to Switzerland.
Not many corners on the TT course, this should be one for the specialists.
The vertical axis makes this look tough, but it’s not. The climbs are hardly climbs at all. You don’t need to be a good climber to win this stage.
Contenders
Fabian Cancellara – his final season started so well but it’s not been the year he would have wanted. He starts the stage as the favourite and his delivered some impressive TT wins this season.
Michael Matthews -surprised a few by winning the Paris-Nice prologue, but he has always been a good TT rider. After dedicating more time to the discipline, Matthews is on track to contend for stages like this. He would prefer a few more corners.
Peter Sagan – after a well earned rest, he returned to racing in California. No slow build up for the world champion, he took two stage wins and the points jersey. He’s won this prologue before, way back in 2012. He will hope to put Cancellara under pressure.
Ion Izagirre – destroyed the field in the Romandie prologue. The Spaniard is superb against the clock and well capable of another victory.
Mathias Brandle – it hasn’t quite been a season to forget, but there hasn’t been many high points. One of those rare good days was his 2nd place in the Giro TT, but that was helped by the weather conditions. This prologue should suit him well, but the form isn’t there.
Wilco Kelderman – given Jumbo’s record in TTs, you have to include one of their riders as a favourite. Kelderman is very fast against the clock, just losing out to Van Garderen in the Andalucía TT back at the beginning of the year. He’s fast and the Jumbo boys continue to get things right.
Dries Devenyns -having his best season for a long time, maybe his best ever! I’m a big fan of his and delighted to see him winning races. Fresh from his success in the Belgium Tour, his confidence will be up. He would expect a top 10 finish, but could do even better.
Silvan Dillier – I have to include a home rider. Dillier is a flying machine and capable of upsetting the odds. If he gets it right, he would be a very popular winner.
Reto Hollenstein – another Swiss talent who’s had a good season. He was 3rd in the recent Belgium Tour prologue, a good indicator for this race.
Geraint Thomas – can he channel his inner track rider? I doubt he”ll win this stage.
Weather
They think that we’ll have showers around 1300 and then thunderstorms from 1600. These things are never certain though!
Start Times
14:44 Hollenstein
14:48 Benoot
14:49 Bevin
14:53 Van Poppel
15:06 Brandle
15:13 Rui Costa
15:16 Sagan
15:31 Lampaert
15:36 Kelderman
15:49 Boom
17:07 Dillier
17:15 Ion Izagirre
17:18 Devenyns
17:19 Le Bon
17:27 Thomas
17:30 Matthews
17:31 Cancellara
17:32 Spilak
The big riders are spread throughout the day. Some of the teams have decided to send their riders out early, there was no way Cancellara would have been allowed that benefit. The pressure of being the big star means he must start near the end.
Prediction Time
I’ll go for the Bianchi bike and Wilco Kelderman, but the weather will make this a lottery.
David Hunter
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