The unstoppable Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) won stage six of the Tour de Suisse in Bischofszell on Thursday.
Sagan came around Britain's Ben Swift (Sky) in the final metres to take his fourth stage in the race. Allan Davis (Orica-GreenEdge) placed third.
Overall leader Rui Costa (Movistar) remained safely in the bunch to continue his occupation of the yellow jersey. He leads Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) by eight seconds, with Roman Kreuziger (Astana) in third at 15 seconds.
Four riders formed the day's escape group: Baden Cooke (Orica-GreenEdge), Vicente Reynes (Lotto-Belisol), Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r) and Troels Vinther (Saxo Bank).
Cooke and Reynes were caught with five kilometres to go, with Vinther and Montaguti hanging on out front for and extra couple of kilometres before the inevitable catch to set up a bunch finish.
Sky took control of the bunch in the final kilometre for Swift, and in the final cobbled corner it looked as though the Brit had the win in the bag as Sagan was squeezed against the barriers by Albasini. However, Sagan muscled his way through to the front to take another victory with Swift a close second.
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On Friday the riders face a 34.3km test against the clock in and around Gossau. Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) will be looking to confirm his return to form with a stage win ahead of the Tour de France.
The WorldTour-level Tour de Suisse concludes on Sunday, June 17.
Results
Tour de Suisse 2012, stage six: Wittnau to Bischofszell, 198.5km
1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale in 4-30-08
2. Ben Swift (GBr) Sky
3. Allan Davis (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
4. Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-GreenEdge
5. Oscar Freire (Spa) Katusha
6. Lloyd Mondory (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale
7. Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM
8. Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) Team Type 1
9. Matti Breschel (Den) Rabobank
10. Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana all same time
Overall classification after stage six
1. Rui Costa (Por) Movistar in 25-23-39
2. Frank Schleck (Lux) RadioShack-Nissan at 8 secs
3. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Astana at 15 secs
4. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-BigMat at 19 secs
5. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Ag2r-La Mondiale at 21 secs
6. Thomas Lovkvist (Swe) Sky at 21 secs
7. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 23 secs
8. John Gadret (Fra) Agr2-La Mondiale at 24 secs
9. Mikel Nieve (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 26 secs
10. Tom Danielson (USA) Garmin-Barracuda at 29 secs
Peter Sagan takes his fourth stage win
Rui Costa in the lead
Tour de Suisse 2012: Related links
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
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Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.
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