Skjelmose Wins First Mountain Top Finish and Takes Yellow

Skjelmose Wins First Mountain Top Finish and Takes Yellow

Danish cyclist Mattias Skjelmose has won the third stage of Tour de Suisse, taking over the Yellow Jersey. The 22-year-old rider from Trek-Segafredo team reached the mountain top finish after crossing over two Category 1 mountains on the shortest leg of the race from Tafers to Villars-sur-Ollon (143.8 km). He narrowly beat Austrian Felix Gall (AG2R Citroen) after completing an altitude difference of 2,700 meters.

Evenepoel Takes Second Place in General Classification

World Champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), who had to skip the Giro and take a break from racing after contracting COVID-19, was leading the race but fell to fourth place just before the finish line, trailing behind Skjelmose by 21 seconds. Nevertheless, he secured the second position in the general classification, 17 seconds behind Skjelmose. Evenepoel aims to defend his title at the road World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in August.

Schachmann Finishes 24th

Swiss cyclist Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), who was leading the race after the first two stages, couldn't keep up with the pace and ended up trailing by over three minutes. The best German cyclist was Maximilian Schachmann (Bora hansgrohe), finishing the stage at 24th position with a gap of 1 minute and 50 seconds behind the leader.

Next Mountain Top Finish on the Horizon

The next mountain top finish awaits the cyclists on Wednesday, June 14th, 2023. The fourth stage will take the riders over 152.5 kilometers from Monthey to Leukerbad. The first 80 kilometers are flat, but the second part features two Category 1 mountains that the riders will have to climb.