Nairo Quintana (Movistar) took an impressive victory in the queen stage of the 2018 Tour de Suisse, attacking at the bottom of the 27km finishing climb to Arosa.
Quintana crossed the line 22 seconds ahead of Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), with Richie Porte (BMC Racing) finishing third on the same time. Porte remains in yellow with two stages to go, but Quintana’s victory propelled him to second overall.
“I heard over the radio that they were coming back and were pretty close, but I wanted to maintain a strong strong rhythm and it was enough to make it all the way to the line, even if it was with a fairly small margin,” said Quintana. “It’s important to know that I’m in good shape ahead of the big objective that’s ahead. That puts me and my team at ease.”
Quintana’s first victory of the season lifted him from sixth to second in the overall standings, 17 seconds behind Porte. Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) finished fifth and dropped to third overall, 52 seconds behind leader.
On Saturday, the eighth stage is made up of six flattish laps up and down the Ticino valley. The race ends on Sunday with a time trial, Porte’s speciality, over 34 kilometres along many of the same roads.
Tour de Suisse 2018 – stage 7 results (Eschenbach/Atzmännig – Arosa):
| 1 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | 4:01:39 |
| 2 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +22” |
| 3 | Richie Porte (BMC) | ,, |
| 4 | Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-hansgrohe) | +38” |
| 5 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 6 | Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 7 | Igor Anton (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 8 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +50” |
| 9 | Mikel Landa (Movistar) | ,, |
| 10 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +59” |
General classification after stage 7:
| 1 | Richie Porte (BMC) | 26:06:10 |
| 2 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +17” |
| 3 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +52” |
| 4 | Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) | +53” |
| 5 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +01’13” |
| 6 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +01’28” |
| 7 | Mikel Landa (Movistar) | +01’31” |
| 8 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +01’37” |
| 9 | Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin) | +01’48” |
| 10 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +02’26” |
