GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Tour de Suisse cycling race ended Sunday 19 June with a victory for American rider Levi Leipheimer, who never attacked during the nine days but was always in the top group.
Juan Mauricio Soler, who was badly injured three-quarters of the way through the race when he hit a curb and flew into a spectator, then a fence, is slowly being brought out of an induced coma, news agency AP reports Monday evening. Soler suffered brain damage, fractures and a lung injury, and doctors say it is too early to analyze the impact of the injuries, but he is recovering as expected.
Juan Mauricio Soler at Aminona, Tour de Suisse 2011, far right, part of the pack, but he later zoomed ahead to win the day, his first victory in four years
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The Tour de Suisse cycling race is being run fromVaduz in Liechtenstein to Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis in Austria Friday 17 June, at 225km the longest segment of the weeklong race. The winner of last Sunday’s Crans-Montana leg, Colombian rider Juan Mauricio Soler, is not with the group today, however, after suffering serious injuries in a bad fall Thursday. He is in an induced coma following bleeding on the brain and he is suffering from a number of fractures, after hitting a curb, falling on a spectator and landing on a fence.
Several spectators were also injured.
His fall was one of several Thursday, but it comes just five weeks after the death of Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt in the Giro d’Italia, whom Soler mentioned after his Sunday win.
Soler was in second place, close behind Thursday’s overall leader, Damiano Cunego of Italy, when the accident occurred.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse bike race Tuesday 14 June took riders on their longest run, 198.4 km from Grindelwald to Huttwil, and ended with the suggestion of a close finish when the race ends Sunday 19 June. Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) overtook Liquigas’s Peter Sagan to win by what the Daily Peloton called “a tire’s width” in the final 200 metre spring Tuesday.
Sunday’s killing mountains climbs Sunday, from Airolo to Crans-Montana, provided cycling fans with a chance to see Colombian Juan Mauricio Soler (Movistar) win his first race in four years in a thrilling and tough uphill sprint finish. He broke away from 10 riders with less than a kilometre to go in the 149 km race.Italy’s Damiano Cunego was 12 seconds behind Soler, but Cunego won Monday’s stage 3 and retains the overall lead going into Wednesday’s race from Huttwil to Tobel-Tägerschen.
Kim Kirchen, photo Katusha team
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Luxembourg racer Kim Kirchen, 31, complained of dizziness and feeling very unwell Friday night during dinner with his Tour de Suisse Katusha team, and he was taken immediately to hospital, where he has been in an induced coma since. The coma was induced to better evaluate his medical condition. He reportedly suffered a mild heart attack, similar to a problem he had in 2009, but according to a Katusha news release Saturday 19 June “it is possible to exclude both an infarctus or a thrombosis.” He was 48th in the rankings in the race before Friday.
“We were all together when it happened yesterday evening at the hotel,” Katusha sports director Serge Parsani said. “He felt really bad and we immediately sent him to the hospital.”
The Tour de Suisse has its final, ninth race today, a 26.9km loop from Liestal back to the town in northern Switzerland, not far from Basel. The leader going into the race was Robert Gesink, Luxembourg, with six other riders, including Lance Armstrong, within a minute of his overall time. Defender Fabien Cancellara has not made it into the top 10, nor has German Tony Martin, two of the favoured contenders at the start of the race.
International sports, cycling
Wettigen, Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The fourth leg of the Tour de Suisse ended Tuesday 15 June with a crash that brought down 20 riders just 50 metres from the finish line. It saw Briton Tony Cavendish go from the lead to the ground, with a fine and several penalties for causing the pile-up. Yesterday’s 196km race was won by Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi.
Cavendish’s bike touched Heinrich Haussler’s, winner of the previous day’s race, bringing them both down. Cavendish suffered minor injuries, mainly road burns, but Haussler has a deep puncture wound to his right elbow and is now out of the race.
Tony Martin remains in the lead as they race the fifth leg, from Wettigen to Frutigen Wednesday.
Links to other sites: Bike Radar, Tour de Suisse (Fre) and video on SF
Tour de Suisse Sunday 14 June, coming into Salgesch, 5km from the finish
Schwarzenburg, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Tony Martin takes the overall lead in the Tour de Suisse, one second ahead of defender Fabien Cancellara, at the end of the third stage 14 June.
Franc Schleck won the race Monday, from Sierre in Valais to Schwarzenburg, with Martin close behind him and Cancellara coming in third, six seconds behind the winner.
Schleck, who was not in the top 10 rankings after Sunday’s race, made an impressive finish. The Tour de Suisse is playing out tightly, with suspense Sunday and Monday, 13-14 June, up to the end. The Simplon Pass doused the racers Sunday afternoon but the sun came out long enough along the banks of the Rhone as they raced into Sierre.
Monday’s 196.6km took the Tour over the Col des Mosses.
International sports, cycling, Tour de Suisse
Lugano, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Fabien Cancellara, Swiss cyclist, took the first leg of the Tour de Suisse race Saturday 12 June in Lugano, winning the against-the-clock race. The title-holder won the 7.6 km race through the streets of Lugano with a time of 10′ 21″ 06, just one second ahead of Roman Kreuziger. American Lance Armstrong came in 44nd, not taking any chances in the streets that were damp from rain towards the end of the race.
Cancellara has been plagued by rumours that he used hidden batteries for uphill runs, with some three million people viewing the YouTube video that purportedly shows this.
Bol d'Or 2009, waiting in Montreux, for boats to arrive
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – There is no shortage of events for sports fans this weekend, on TV but also live and in the region. The World Cup is on, of course: be sure to read our Geneva Living blog for big screen locations throughout the Lake Geneva region.
Bol d’Or: sails go up for 10:00 race start!
The big local event is the beautiful Bol d’Or sailing competition, with hundreds of boats in different classes doing the Geneva-Lausanne-Geneva loop. The races start at 10:00 Saturday morning, so check the wind or better, yet, check the race’s virtual tracking page to see where the boats are at a given moment, if you want to find a good spot for watching them. The Bol d’Or has a new video (12 minutes) with the history of the race, which began in 1939.
The weather forecast for Geneva: cloudy changing to partly cloud, high of 25C Saturday, slightly warmer Sunday, when the race normally finishes. Reminder: GenevaLunch now has a weather page with five day forecasts.
Tour de Suisse underway in Lugano
The Tour de Suisse cyclists warm up for the mountains by doing a 7.6km loop around the Lugano area Saturday, before starting the first big run Sunday, 167.5km from Ascona in canton Ticino, over the Simplon pass to Sierre, canton Valais. The race is normally covered by TSR but this year it is on at the same time as the World Cup, so if you aren’t on the route, watching it live, you’ll have to content yourself with roundups on TV and TSR coverage online. You can pick up the live ticker on the Tour de Suisse web site.
Armstrong will meet Cancellara in Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Lance Armstrong will be back in the Tour de Suisse cycling race for the first time since he won it in 2001.
The race promises to be a colourful one, with Armstrong, who won the Tour de France seven times, gearing up for the big French race after crashing out of the Tour of California in May. His crash there came just hours after former teammate Floyd Landis, who recently admitted to doping, said that Armstrong knew about and participated in the doping – charges Armstrong and several others in the cycling world strongly deny. Landis has said that Armstrong’s doping took place in 2001, when he won the Tour de Suisse race.
But the Tour de Suisse focus will more likely be on Swiss racer Fabian Cancellara, Olympic champion who promises to give a fight in the big French race. The Tour de Suisse serves as a warmup to the Tour de France for many racers.
A disappointment for the organizers of the race is that for the first time in years it will not be carried live by Swiss television stations TSR and RSI. The race dates conflict with the football World Cup, which gets television precedence. The Tour de Suisse will have to be content with an hour of daily highlights from the race, which starts 12 June in Lugano and ends 20 June in Liestal, near the German border.
Links to other sites: Tour de Suisse (Fre) preview, circuit and dates in Switzerland, Telegraph, Le Nouvelliste
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Olympic Champion Fabian Cancellara won the Tour de Suisse, coming in first in the final day time trial in Bern. Cancellara won gold in the time trial and bronze in the road race in the Beijing Olympics. He is not considered likely to win the Tour de France, which starts 4 July but could well take the yellow jersey in the first stage time trial in Monte Carlo. Details, swissinfo
Staefa, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Bernese cyclist Fabian Cancellara had to give up his first place position to Slovene Tadej Valjavec in the fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse cycling race 16 June. The 196km stage from Biasca, Ticino to Staefa, canton Zurich, was won by Cancellara’s Saxo Bank teammate Matti Breschel, but the best time overall so far in the race went to Vlajavec, 20 seconds ahead of Cancellara. Wednesday 17 June takes the race 201 km to Serfaus in the Austrian alps, over the 1,793m high Arlberg pass.
Davos, Graubuenden, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss Olympic gold medallist Fabian Cancellara won on Saturday and finished a few seconds behind Austrian Bernard Eisel on Sunday to retain a 22-second lead after two days of the Tour de Suisse, which started in eastern Switzerland and moves west during the week. Details, Swissinfo
