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The Tour de Suisse is one of the major week-long races of the year, but it's not just that, as it is also one of the two main preparatory events for the Tour de France, alongside the Critérium du Dauphiné. The alpine terrain and its placement in the calendar (finishing just 15 days before the start of the Tour) make it the ideal testing ground for the Tour contenders to know where their physical condition is in comparison to their rivals’, and for teams to make the last changes to their line-ups for the most important race of the year.

Route

The race consists of 8 stages, with both the first and last stages being individual time trials, which explains why most time trial specialists have chosen to participate in the Tour de Suisse instead of doing so in the Critérium du Dauphiné. The second and penultimate stages are the flattest and the most likely to finish in a sprint, while stages 3, 4, and 5 offer a concentrated dose of mountains, taking advantage of the country’s geography. Finally, stage 6 features a hilly finish that can be contested by both general classification contenders and outsiders with punch.

Favorites

The provisional start list indicates that Primoz Roglič (1200) and Remco Evenepoel (1200) will meet again, and everything points to a head-to-head battle between these two mega-stars for the general classification, although Roglič's presence is not confirmed yet by his team. Other contenders for the yellow leader's jersey include Juan Ayuso (600), Jay Vine (600), Thomas Pidcock (800), Romain Bardet (800), Neilson Powless (600), Gino Mäder (600), Sergio Higuita (1000), and even Wout Van Aert (1200).

For the time trials, in addition to Roglič, Evenepoel, and Van Aert, Filippo Ganna (1000), Stefan Küng (800), Matteo Sobrero (600), Stefan Bisseger (600), and Kasper Asgreen (600) are also among the world's best specialists.

On the other hand, Arnaud Démare (1000), Tim Merlier (800), Wout Van Aert (1200), Jordi Meeus (600), Biniam Girmay (600), Peter Sagan (600), and Marius Mayrhofer (200) are some of the favorites to win stages 2 and 7, if they end in bunch sprints.

However, many teams have yet to announce their line-ups for the race, so there may be contenders not mentioned in this article.

Photo: © Tour de Suisse