2019 Tour de Suisse, Daily News Digest, Elia Viviani, Features, Geraint Thomas, News - June 20, 2019

Viviani tops Sagan for another Suisse sprint win: Daily News Digest

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Welcome to your Daily News Digest. Here’s what’s happening today:

Elia Viviani doubles up with his second stage victory in two days at the Tour de Suisse, Geraint Thomas gets the “all-clear” after his crash, San Juan KOM winner Daniel Zamora receives a four-year ban. Those stories and more in today’s Daily News Digest.

Story of the Day: Viviani wins Tour de Suisse stage 5

Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) claimed his second stage victory in as many days at the Tour de Suisse, sprinting to the stage 5 win ahead of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Following up on a victorious stage 4 performance, Viviani again relied on a textbook lead out from his Deceuninck squad. The Italian rounded the final corner at the head of the race and opened his sprint 100 meters from the line to top Sagan, with Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) taking a distant third. Sagan continues to lead the general classification.

“When they do a lead out like that, they make my life really easy,” Viviani said.

1+1=2 @eliaviviani wins the 2nd stage in a row! @petosagan what a sports-men!@deceuninck_qst pic.twitter.com/E1c1hLcMxx

— Tour de Suisse (@tds) June 19, 2019

The 177-kilometer stage from Münchenstein to Einsiedeln featured a number of rolling climbs early, and then a long second-category ascent into a punchy third-category climb before a flatter final 20 kilometers. The up-and-down profile would keep the sprinters on their toes, but it did not keep them from contesting the victory in the end.

Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida), the final survivor of the early break, was caught inside the final 15 kilometers. Riders from Bora, Sunweb, and a handful of other squads then took over at the front to string things out for the next few minutes, with Deceuninck biding time until just before the flamme rouge.

As the pack hit the final kilometer, Deceuninck took control with multiple riders lined out in front of Viviani. Max Richeze was the final lead out man on the front, only peeling off on the approach to the final corner, putting Viviani into pole position to start his sprint as the road straightened out.

Sagan was close on Viviani’s wheel as the Italian launched, but never really threatened to pull even, with Viviani taking the clear win at the line.

Next up at the Tour de Suisse is a 122-kilometer stage 6 from Einsiedeln to Flumserberg, featuring a challenging finishing climb likely to shake up the general classification.

Stage 5 results

1 VIVIANI Elia (Deceuninck – Quick Step)
2 SAGAN Peter (BORA – hansgrohe)
3 STUYVEN Jasper (Trek – Segafredo)
4 TRENTIN Matteo (Mitchelton-Scott)
5 MATTHEWS Michael (Team Sunweb)
6 KRISTOFF Alexander (UAE-Team Emirates)
7 LIENHARD Fabian (Switzerland)
8 DEWULF Stan (Lotto Soudal)
9 JANSE VAN RENSBURG Reinardt (Team Dimension Data)
10 BEVIN Patrick (CCC Team)

1 SAGAN Peter (BORA – hansgrohe)
2 MATTHEWS Michael (Team Sunweb)
3 ASGREEN Kasper (Deceuninck – Quick Step)
4 DENNIS Rohan (Bahrain Merida)
5 CRADDOCK Lawson (EF Education First)
6 TRENTIN Matteo (Mitchelton-Scott)
7 KONRAD Patrick (BORA – hansgrohe)
8 CASTROVIEJO Jonathan (Team INEOS)
9 SÁNCHEZ Luis León (Astana Pro Team)
10 ANACONA Winner (Movistar Team)

Socially Speaking

Good spot by Anthony Pope—that’s one long-range bike throw on stage 4. And he was almost right about Sagan for stage 5 …

Peter Sagan’s bike throw today on stage 4 of the #TourdeSuisse was soooooo early that he’s already won stage 5 pic.twitter.com/MRQGgIhnjk

— Anthony Pope (@Plastic_Peloton) June 18, 2019

… and then there’s this from FeedZoneNews, although Egan Bernal may have something to say about it …

View this post on Instagram

Looks like Thomas (thankfully) escaped major injury. Hope Froome can heal up and get back out there at some point.

A post shared by The Feed Zone News (@feedzonenews) on Jun 19, 2019 at 4:17am PDT

Race Radio

No serious injuries for Thomas in Suisse crash

Geraint Thomas has been given “the all clear.” According to a statement from his Ineos team, the Welshman did not sustain any serious injuries in his crash at the Tour de Suisse, and his Tour de France start is not expected to be affected.

“We’re optimistic he’ll make a full recovery over the coming days though and all being well he’ll be back on his bike very soon,” said team doctor Derick Macleod.

Thomas hit the deck in Tuesday’s fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse, spent several minutes on the ground receiving medical attention, and ultimately abandoned the race. He was taken to a hospital for further evaluation due to “the nature and severity of the impact,” but “all the X-rays and scans have come back clear,” according to Macleod.

Thomas gave his account of the crash in the statement, explaining that “there was a lip in the road that came out of nowhere.”

“An Astana rider hit the lip and crashed and I had nowhere to go,” he said. “I landed on my shoulder and my face and there was quite a bit of blood. You’ve always got to be cautious with a head injury, and whilst I was keen to carry on, the doctors made the right decision to pull me out of the race.”

Thanks for all your messages!! Gutted to leave @tds but luckily I’m all ok. I hit my head and needed stitches above my eye, so the doctors stopped me getting back on my bike. It just means I’ll need some big training rides next week now????????

— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) June 19, 2019

Fortunately for rider and team, Thomas avoided serious injury and expects to be back preparing for the Tour de France soon. Ineos will be without four-time Tour champ Chris Froome for the next few months after the Briton crashed during a recon of the Critérium du Dauphiné time trial. Thomas’s Tour prep will have suffered a blow with his DNF at the Tour de Suisse, but Ineos directors can breathe a sigh of relief that his Tour participation was not derailed by the crash.

In-form Viviani waiting to make 2020 plans

Double Tour de Suisse stage winner Elia Viviani is out of contract with Deceuninck-Quick-Step at the end of this season. As he has told Het Nieuwsblad, however, he plans to wait until at least a little while longer to make decisions about where he’ll be heading in 2020.

“With the shape that I have now, I will first wait for the Tour,” he said, according to Het Nieuwsblad.

The 30-year-old Italian is in his second season with Deceuninck-Quick-Step, and there is still a chance he will renew with the Belgian squad. Recent reports, however, have connected him with a possible transfer to French Pro Continental team Cofidis.

San Juan KOM winner Zamora banned for four years after EPO positive

Daniel Zamora, who won the mountains classification at the 2019 Vuelta a San Juan while riding for Agrupacion Virgen De Fatima, has received a four-year suspension after testing positive for EPO.

The 32-year-old Argentine was added to the UCI’s list of provisional suspensions in March, having registered an adverse analytical finding in a test at the Vuelta a San Juan on January 30. Now, he has been handed a ban, officially starting on the date of his EPO positive. His four-year suspension runs until January 29, 2023.

Happy birthday to …

Francesco Moser is 68. The Italian was one of cycling’s most prolific winners in the ’70s and ’80s, particularly in the Classics and in his home Grand Tour. He won the 1984 Giro d’Italia and collected a total of 23 Giro stage wins during his career.

He also claimed a world road title in 1977, racked up three Paris-Roubaix wins in a row from 1978 to 1980, and scored two victories at the Tour of Lombardy and one at Milano-Sanremo.