Pogačar sends message to Tour de France rivals with dominant Tour de Suisse win

The fifth and final stage of the Tour de Suisse has been won by Tadej Pogacar. On the final climb, brave Lenny Martinez held on out front from the breakaway for a long time, but the Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates-XRG showed no mercy and added another stage win to his name. Another box ticked on his bingo card.

What a time trial we saw on Saturday! Mathieu van der Poel showed his form with a phenomenal ride against the clock, but was pipped right at the line by Pogacar, who extended his overall lead and claimed his second stage win. In the brutal final stage, the Slovenian would be going for the hat-trick: a course that suited him perfectly.

The climbing started right from the gun, and after the first summit a group of eleven managed to ride clear. Among them were dangerous names such as Martinez and his Bahrain teammate Afonso Eulálio, the Jayco AlUla duo of Mauro Schmid and Paul Double, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Bart Lemmen for Visma | Lease a Bike.

The highest-placed rider on GC in the breakaway: Andrew August (Ineos Grenadiers). The American would be the first to be dropped from the front group. That happened on the second full passage of the demanding Col de la Croix, just over 19 kilometres long at an average of 7 per cent.

At that point — with around 55 kilometres still to race — the front group splintered further, while UAE continued to control the peloton. Somewhat notably, that job was later taken over by Decathlon CMA CGM. Eventually, just eight riders remained out front heading into the final climb, where the race would truly explode.

Pogacar attacked with just over 8 kilometres to go, while out front Martinez had shown himself the strongest climber, having already ridden clear solo well before that point. We saw the Slovenian's yellow jersey tear past the dropped breakaway riders one by one, meaning the world champion still had to close down a full minute to win the stage.

It looked as though they were standing still: that's how fast Pogacar rode up to the front — on the big ring! Martinez, however, refused to give up, and with 2 kilometres to go still held a 17-second lead over the world champion. Once into the final kilometre, Pogacar caught him, but Pogi showed no mercy. The yellow jersey simply steamrolled past and cruised, seemingly with ease, to another stage win. It added some extra shine to his overall victory too.