Kristoff Wins Tour De Suisse Fifth Stage

Last updated : 12 June 2013 By Covsupport News Service

Katusha's Alexander Kristoff won the fifth stage of the Tour De Suissse.

Stijn Devolder (RadioShack-Leopard), Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun), Sébastien Minard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Serge Pauwels (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) got clear after eighteen kilometres of this 176.4km stage from yesterday's finish at Buochs to Leuggern.

Following Gianni VIsconti having to abandon the race due to injuries sustained in a crash, the quartet continued to lead with a gap of 1.50 with 70kms remaining.

But after passing through Leuggern for the penultimate time, the four escapers only had a lead of 29 seconds. It was not going to be enough for the final 26 kilometres and they were swept aside three kilometres later.

BMC were now working to keep Mattias Frank in the leaders jersey and controlling the peloton as the other teams moved their riders into position for the final sprint.

Into the final kilometre and Cannondale had Peter Sagan on the front but it was Katusha's Alexander Kristoff, who went with 200ms to go and won in 4:08:29, beating Peter Sagan, Arnaud Démare, Matti Breschel and Heinrich Haussler.

Mattias Frank retains his leaders jersey with a 23 second lead over Saxo Tinkoff's Roman Kreuziger. Garmin's Dan Martin is up to sixth.