Kessiakoff wins Tour de Suisse TT as Costa strengthens overall lead

Tour de Suisse 2012 stage seven ITT photo gallery by Graham Watson>>

Speedy Swede Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) beat pre-stage favourite Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) to take the Tour de Suisse time trial on Friday.

Kessiakoff pipped Cancellara by just two seconds over the 34.3-kilometre course around Gossau in Switzerland. The lead pair were well ahead of third-placed rider, Maxime Monfort (RadioShack-Nissan) who finished 20 seconds adrift of Kessiakoff.

Race leader Rui Costa (Movistar) put in a strong ride to finish in eighth place on the stage and increase his lead at the top of the overall classification.

Roman Kreuziger (Astana) moves up to second spot behind Costa as Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) drops to fifth.

Robert Gesink (Rabobank) placed fifth in the time trial to move up to third overall.

Britain's Steve Cummings (BMC Racing) delivered a solid performance to finish 15th on the stage, 1-12 behind Kessiakoff. Defending champion Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) completed the stage in 17th at 1-19. The American now sits in seventh overall.

The WorldTour-level Tour de Suisse concludes on Sunday, June 17.  

Results

Tour de Suisse 2012, stage seven: Gossau to Gossau, 34.5km ITT

1. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana in 46-36

2. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) RadioShack-Nissan at 2 secs

3. Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan at 20 secs

4. Jeremy Roy (Fra) FDJ-BigMat at 25 secs

5. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank at 27 secs

6. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana at 34 secs

7. Andreas Kloden (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan at 38 secs

8. Rui Costa (Spa) Movistar at 41 secs

9. Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-QuickStep at 43 secs

10. Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing at 51 secs

Other

15. Stephen Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing at 1-12

Overall classification after stage seven

1. Rui Costa (Spa) Movistar in 26-10-55

2. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Astana at 50 secs

3. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank at 55 secs

4. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 1-04

5. Frank Schleck (Lux) RadioShack-Nissan at 1-04

6. Tom Danielson (USA) Garmin-Barracuda at 1-12

7. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma-QuickStep at 1-15

8. Vladimir Gisev (Rus) Katusha at 1-17

9. Thomas Lovkvist (Swe) Sky at 1-22

10. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank at 1-27

Steve Cummings

Maxime Monfort

Fabian Cancellara

Fredrik Kessiakoff

Rui Costa in lead

Tour de Suisse 2012: Related links

Stage seven photo gallery

Stage six: Sagan strikes again

Stage six photo gallery

Stage five: Isaychev wins from break

Stage five photo gallery

Stage four: Sagan wins again

Stage four photo gallery

Stage three: Sagan sprints to second Suisse stage win

Stage two: Costa denies Schleck stage two win in Tour de Suisse

Stage one: Sagan beats Cancellara in Tour de Suisse opening time trial