Peter Sagan (Cannondale) took his second stage win of the 2013 Tour de Suisse on Saturday, out-gunning Daniele Bennati (Saxo-Tinkoff) and world champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) in the stage eight bunch sprint.
Sagan took the fast finish at the head of a 34-rider bunch that had split away from the rest of the peloton on the day's final climb at St Luzisteig.
British sprinter Ben Swift (Sky) missed out on contesting the finish after he was caught in the second group when the bunch fractured.
Race leader Mathias Frank once again finished comfortably in the front group to retain his yellow jersey. He leads Rui Costa by just 13 seconds going into Sunday's final stage - a decisive 26.8km time trial.
A unfortunately-timed puncture by Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge) near the finish means that the stage one winner slips to 10th place overall.
Results
Tour de Suisse 2013, stage eight: Zernez to Bad Ragaz, 180.5km
1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale in 4-33-26
2. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Saxo-Tinkoff
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3. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing
4. Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-GreenEdge
5. Christophe Riblon (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale
6. Martin Elmiger (Swi) IAM Cycling
7. Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
8. Julien Simon (Fra) Sojasun
9. Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack-Leopard
10. Simon Geschke (Ger) Argos-Shimano all same time
Overall classification after stage eight
1. Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing in 30-16-02
2. Rui Costa (Por) Movistar at 13secs
3. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Saxo-Tinkoff at 23 secs
4. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ at 44 secs
5. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Blanco at 46 secs
6. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 1-17
7. Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp at 1-23
8. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana at 1-43
9. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha at 1-50
10. Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge at 2-09
Sunshine and scenery on stage eight
Maxime Bouet in the day's four-man escape group
Race leader Mathias Frank
Peter Sagan wins the stage
Related links
Tour de Suisse stage eight photo gallery
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Tour de Suisse stage seven photo gallery
Rast wins Suisse stage six from breakaway
Tour de Suisse stage six photo gallery
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Tour de Suisse stage five photo gallery
Arnaud Demare wins Tour de Suisse stage four
Tour de Suisse stage four photo gallery
Hesjedal crashes out of Tour de Suisse
Sagan wins Tour de Suisse stage three
Tour de Suisse stage three photo gallery
Ryder Hesjedal crashes out of Tour de Suisse
Mollema wins stage two of Tour de Suisse
Cameron Meyer wins Tour de Suisse opening time trial
Tour de Suisse 2013: The Big Preview
Tour de Suisse 2013: Who will win?
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