Oscar Onley sprints to 3rd after good teamwork on punchy day in Suisse

A day in the rolling hills at the Tour de Suisse saw the peloton traverse a 195 kilometre route from Aarau to Heiden; with the latter half of the day featuring more ascents, and hardly any flat roads in the final 30 kilometres. It was a fast start to the action but a break of six formed out front, with all Team Picnic PostNL riders in the peloton; looking after each other and keeping GC finisher Oscar Onley safe.

In the middle of the stage an increase in pace within the peloton cut the gap to 30 seconds for those ahead, but things slowed and it increased once more. Coming into the last 40 kilometres the team did a good job to come forward in the bunch ahead of the hilly finale. However, the break had worked together and on the Knolhusen climb Simmons attacked for what would ultimately be the stage winning move. Warren Barguil helped to set a good tempo in the peloton to stretch things out and keep Onley well positioned for the tricky descents, before Frank van den Broek helped bring him to the fore for the final three kilometre drag to the line.

Despite Simmons being ahead, it didn’t deter the peloton and there were attacks from GC riders, with Onley looking sprightly to follow the wheels and keep himself in contention at the front. Coming around the last corner, Onley kicked hard and produced a good sprint to take a strong third place on the day; a nice reward after some good teamwork.

Onley expressed: “It was a pretty straight forward day today with the guys setting me up well going into the last 40 kilometres where there were some fast descents and short climbs. Warren started to make a pace on one of the climbs to try and bring some time back from the break, but Simmons was strong. I felt good in the final and probably got the best result I could have today. We’re fully focused on trying to gain back some time on GC now throughout the rest of the race.”

Team Picnic PostNL coach Pim Ligthart added: “It was some good teamwork from the guys today to keep Oscar safe throughout the stage. On the longer climb, Warren then paced it so that we could have a good position going into the descent before the second last climb of the day. On the climb to the line then Oscar could show that he is in good shape, and is in a good place after our recent altitude camp. Simmons stayed away for the win in the end which we couldn’t really influence anymore than we did, but I think we can be happy with the teamwork the guys showed and it was a nice podium in the end. We’ll look to keep that up in the coming days here.”