The 70th Tour de Suisse began yesterday with a 154 kilometer road race which was won by World Champion Tom Boonen, the nine day stage race has been a favorite by German Jan Ullrich who has won the event in 2004. The race is the last opportunity for the pro’s to assess their forum before cycling biggest event the Tour de France which kicks off on July 1.
I was a bit surprised to see that the first day offered a slightly hilly road race in of the usual prologue time trial, Boonen mentioned to reports that while the stage looked fairly easy on paper their were several very steep climbs that made the race difficult. Riders to watch over the next week and a half are Jan Ullrich, Fabian Cancellara and Belgium’s Axel Mercks who dropped out of the Giro half way through the race as to not over extend himself as he heads into the Tour.
Stages to watch in this years Tour de Suisse come on June 14th (stage 5) and June 15th (stage 6 profile seen on left) when the races begin to head into the mountains for some tough climbs. Stage six looks very tough with a “beyond catagory” climb that is over 20k’s long and very steep!
Personally I will be watching for Ullrich on these days, I think it will be important for the German star to test himself in the mountains. Jan might think he needs to test himself on the time trial but we all ready know the man can fly alone on a flat road. Where he really needs to test himself is in the mountains where he will either defend his lead – or loose this years Tour de France to the likes of Ivan Basso, Iban Mayo or another pure climber.
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