Kessiakoff Wins Stage Seven, de Costa Increases Lead in Tour de Suisse

Astana’s Fredrik Kassiakoff turned in the best time in the Tour de Suisse Stage Seven Time trial, beating RadioShack’s Fabian Cancellara by two seconds. Kessiakoff finished the 34-km course with its single large hill one-third of the way through, in 46:37.

Third fastest was RadioShack’s Maxime Monfort, 20 seconds off the winning pace.

Race leader Faria de Costas of Movistar delivered an excellent eighth-place time, beating all the General Classification contenders and increasing his advantage over his rivals from eight seconds to fifty.

RadioShack’s Frank Schleck, who had been second in GC, eight seconds down, dropped to fifth, 1:04 behind. Astana’s Roman Kreuziger, who had been third in GC 15 seconds back, rose to second but fell to fifty seconds. Rabobank’s Robert Gesink advanced the third, 55 seconds off the leader. Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde moved from seventh to fifth, but his gap increased from 23 seconds to 1:04.

Two other big movers were Americans Tom Danielson of Garmin-Barracuda, rising from tenth to sixth, and Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Levi Leipheimer of who moved up to seventh.

The Tour de Suisse turns Alpine for the next two stages. Stage Seven, 148 km from Bischofszell to Arosa, holds only two categorized climbs, but the first is a Cat Two peaking 22 km from the finish, followed by a steady uphill haul to the Hors Categorie mountaintop finish. The final 28 km of this stage are brutal; all the more so because riders will need to attack here.

All the teams who hope to put a man on the podium will need to test Movistar and Faria de Costa, and try to crack him on the final climb. With 75 km of very gradual uphill preceding the climb, look for teams to really push through the middle of the stage and hammer hard on the first climb, hoping to isolate the race leader on the second climb.

The final stage is even worse: longer, harder, and steeper. Stage Seven, 216 km from Näfels-Lintharena to Sörenberg, includes four categorized climbs, a Cat Two followed by two HCs and a Cat Two mountaintop finish. Expect attacks on the penultimate and final climbs here, particularly desperation efforts by riders not on the podium, and crazy flyers by riders who want to win this epic stage.