The third stage of the Tour de Suisse 2024 went to Thibau Nys. The 21-year-old Belgian won an uphill sprint after a particularly difficult finish after 161.7 kilometers between Steinmaur and Rüschlikon.
The Lidl-Trek rider beat British rider Stephen Williams (Israel – Premier Tech) 2nd and Italian rider Alberto Bettiol (EF Education – EasyPost), who crossed the line third and, with the time bonuses gained, took over the leader’s yellow jersey.
As for the Latin Americans, the best placed was the Olympic champion Richard Carapaz (EF Education – EasyPost), while the Colombian Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) came in 13th place three seconds behind the winner, then entered other Colombians: Sergio Higuita (Bora – Hansgrohe) in 19th place seven seconds behind, while Brandon Rivera (Ineos Grenadiers) finished 43rd and Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) 52nd, 33 seconds behind Nys.
After the start in Steinmauer, the peloton passed through the canton of Aargau and Lucerne to the finish in Rüschlikon. But before the riders reached this idyllic locality, the cyclists faced a rather tough finish with the climbs to Oberwil-Lieli (3.8 km at 5.4%), Aeugst am Albis (2.6 km at 6.5%) and the Albis pass (2 km at 5.9%).
The day’s breakaway was led by Luca Jenni (Swiss National Team), Roberto Carlos González (Team Corratec-Vini Fantini), Christoph Janssen (Swiss Cycling), Fabian Lienhard (Groupama-FDJ) and Johan Jacobs (Movistar). Switzerland was well represented with no less than four riders, the Panamanian Gonzalez was the only foreigner in the breakaway.
These five attackers managed to reach a maximum advantage of four minutes, but it was not enough to cause a surprise. Soudal Quick-Step, Jayco AlUla, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lotto Dstny worked well together in the peloton and managed to close the gap to the five adventurers.
A fairly large group remained in the final ten kilometers. An uphill sprint seemed imminent, although Marc Hirschi did his best to avoid it, but the Swiss UAE Team Emirates rider was neutralized towards the end.
In the closing stages, Wilco Kelderman clearly felt good and started the sprint from a distance. The Visma | Lease a Bike Dutchman managed to hold on for a long time, but was eventually overtaken by Thibau Nys. The young Belgian managed to make a perfect sprint and crossed the finish line victorious, ahead of the winner of the Flèche Wallonne, Stephen Williams.
This is the sixth victory of the season for the 21-year-old Nys. His winning streak for the year began at the Tour de Romandie, followed by two stage wins and the overall victory at the Tour of Hungary and another victory at the Tour of Norway.
The Swiss race will continue on Wednesday with the fourth stage, a 171-kilometer mountain stage between Rüschlikon and Gotthard Pass that includes an uphill finish.
Tour de Suiza (2.UWT)
Results Stage 3 | Steinmaur – Rüschlikon (161,7 km)
| 1 | Thibau Nys | Lidl – Trek | 3:27:31 |
| 2 | Stephen Williams | Israel – Premier Tech | ,, |
| 3 | Alberto Bettiol | EF Education – EasyPost | ,, |
| 4 | Roger Adriá | BORA – hansgrohe | ,, |
| 5 | Paul Lapeira | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | ,, |
| 6 | Wilco Kelderman | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 7 | Adam Yates | UAE Team Emirates | ,, |
| 8 | Mattias Skjelmose | Lidl – Trek | 0:03 |
| 9 | Ben Tulett | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 10 | Richard Carapaz | EF Education – EasyPost | ,, |
Ranking General
| 1 | Alberto Bettiol | EF Education – EasyPost | 7:39:20 |
| 2 | Ethan Hayter | INEOS Grenadiers | 0:06 |
| 3 | Wilco Kelderman | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 4 | Stephen Williams | Israel – Premier Tech | ,, |
| 5 | João Almeida | UAE Team Emirates | 0:09 |
| 6 | Finn Fisher-Black | UAE Team Emirates | ,, |
| 7 | Mattias Skjelmose | Lidl – Trek | ,, |
| 8 | Adam Yates | UAE Team Emirates | 0:10 |
| 9 | Jan Christen | UAE Team Emirates | 0:11 |
| 10 | Roger Adriá | BORA – hansgrohe | 0:13 |
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico