“Right from the start, a four-mean breakaway took off and from that point, the sprint teams controlled the race,” Sports Director Addy Engels said. “During the race, it became clear that at the second to last crossing of the finish line the times for the GC would be neutralised. Because of that, the sprint was a very small group. It was a tricky local lap so that is why the organisation made the decision. We wanted to get Steven safely through today’s stage and we succeeded in doing that.” 

The cyclists race the last stage of the Tour de Suisse tomorrow, an individual time trial over 28.6 kilometres. Kruijswijk sits 1-05 minutes behind leader Simon Spilak and 13 seconds behind Damiano Caruso. Domenico Pozzovivo, in fourth, sits at 2-28 minutes. 

“Normally, the gap between Steven and Spilak is too big. Spilak has shown he is capable of riding a very good time trial, as he did a few years ago. Maybe Steven can climb to second place by riding a good time trial and overtaking Caruso in the GC." 

“We do not have to worry about opponents from behind Steven. The gap between Steven and the number four is big enough." 

“We are going to prepare ourselves well for the time trial. We hope that Steven can grab the second place in the GC. We are here with some other riders who can ride a good time trial, too, but we have raced hard for some days.”