Tour de Suisse Stage 9

Incredibly, it's the last stage of the Tour de Suisse already and it's been an excellent event this year - I'm not the only Twitterer to have found it more interesting than the Giro d'Italia. Were it not for the fact that hosting a three-week event in a country the size of Switzerland would be extremely tricky, this would deserve reorganisation and an upgrade to Grand Tour status.

As anyone who knows anything about Switzerland and her Alpine neighbours would expect, the scenery has been as pleasing to look at as David Cameron with a black eye. Today will be much the same - Schaffhausen is one of the most beautiful towns in the region and Dörflingen at the 8.2km point is deservedly on the list of Swiss Heritage sites. Thayngen at 13.5km is impressive, too.

Dörflingen

Today's route takes in 32km of both Austria and Switzerland, to be completed in individual time trial stylee - but it's a time trial with a steep 182m climb over 3.8km thrown in for good measure which means the sprinters and those TT riders who don't do so well on the hills won't have it all their own way. Expect some of the climbers who can also keep up the pace in the flatlands to do alright today... we're thinking Frank Schleck might enjoy a good ride. Meanwhile, Cavendish sounds confident on Twitter: "TourDeSuisse is going to feel like a training ride. I hope," he says. However, you never can predict the outcome of a time trial, especially when it comes at the end of a major stage race.

Stetten is everything a Swiss village should be.

The climb, at Opfertshofner, isn't huge when compared to some of those earlier on in the event when the riders tackled a few of Europe's highest mountain passes, but with a highest point of 658m it's sufficient to get the old knees aching and offer good views of the surrounding countryside. The descent takes in Stetten, everything a Swiss village should be, and then enters the more-or-less flat final stage back into Schaffhausen which should encourage some high speed action.


The weather forecast looks good for the late morning and early afternoon, which means good TT conditions for the first riders out, but light showers around 3pm could make things slippery for those departing or arriving back at Schaffhausen at this time. Temperatures should be comfortable in the dry, ranging between 13-16 C, but may feel chilly during rain.


You know who we think is going to shine today? Young Ben Swift from TeamSky. Although he's a sprinter rather than a TT specialist, his fantastic 3rd place yesterday demonstrated that he has the ability to keep to a high pace over a long stage before switching on the afterburners for the final dash. He might not take the best time, but he'll do well. Damiano Cunego needs to ride hard if he wants to hang onto the yellow jersey - with a lead of 1'23" over second place Steven Kruijskijk, he should be able to do so (that climb shouldn't give him any trouble, he's an excellent grimpeur) provided he stays free of accidents/mechanical problems.

Tour de Suisse Stage 7

Stage 6 may have considerately allowed the sprinters a chance to strut their funky stuff yesterday, but Stage 7 is just going to hurt them because it's gradients all the way in a parcours du combattant that will punish all but the very fittest of the mountain specialists and which looks set to be the toughest stage of this year's event.


Extending over 223km in the decidedly spiky east of the nation, the route takes in the Flüelapass (46°45′01″N 9°56′52″E - worth a look on Google Earth) which, with an elevation of 2383m, is the fifth highest pass in Switzerland. Unlike the rolling terrain to the first climb in Stage 6, there's no easy build-up today either - it's uphill all the way for the first 65km from the start at Vaduz in Liechtenstein. Then it gets tough.

Flüelapass. At 2383m, riders are going to suffer.

75-95km sees the first real climbing of the day: though uncategorised, this short section ascends 701m from Thusis at 720m and Wiesen at 1421m. There's then a relatively flat section, but when you're one-and-a-half thousand metres up riding on pancake-flat terrain is still tiring - this is, after all, higher than the highest point in the British Isles - so the food station positioned at 105km is going to be a welcome sight. They're going to need an extra energy bar or two in the musettes too, because from here it's 10km to Flüelapass and a steep 841m climb up to the top which will sort out the superhumans from the merely super fit. And there's still almost 100km to go!


There's no let-up even after the teams crest the mountain because although the following 50km are downhill all (well, most) of the way, another climb is waiting in the shape of Catgory 2 Norbertshöhe with an average gradient of 6.4%. There's then another 30km of knee relief down to under 1000m prior to the day's final climb, Category 1 Serfaus which like yesterday marks another finish point outside Switzerland, this time in the Austrian Tyrol. The village of Serfaus is notable in being entirely car-free, made possible by its diminutive subway system in which a single train runs on a cushion of air rather like an underground hovercraft. The riders won't be afforded that sort of comfort, however, because they need to climb 477m over 5km to get there.

Serfaus, proving how pretty a town can look if it bans cars. If only everywhere else had underground hovercrafts and a network of ski lifts to rely on for local transport too! Looks a nice spot for a holiday - unless you happen to be Jewish.

Weather: Vaduz will reach highs of around 26C, creating the possibility of thunderstorms and at least a 60% chance of rain. There's every possibility that this won't happen until after the stage is well under way, but ominous clouds on the horizon (or around the mountaintops, you don't get to see the horizon very often in Liechtenstein) will remind the riders that there are other ominous natural phenomena ahead and do nothing at all to raise spirits. Arrival in Serfaus doesn't look much better with a 70% chance of rain.


Predictions: How wrong were we yesterday? Very, basically. We didn't even include stage winner Steven Kruijswijk, a complete oversight on our behalf because the Dutch grimpeur was an obvious contender. Nor did we rate Levi Leipheimer who, with second place, showed us all that being 37 years old doesn't necessarily mean a rider no longer has what it takes. Not if that rider is Leipheimer at any rate - but then, like all professional cyclists, what applies to mere mortals doesn't apply to him. We raised doubts that Little Prince Damiano Cunego had the physical strength required to do battle with the likes of Frank Schleck and Laurens ten Dam on Triesenberg: in fact, he beat them both and hangs onto his top place in the overall classification with a lead of 1'23" after he was 4th over the line. We did put Bauke Mollema in the top five and got that one right as he achieved fourth, whereas we'd never even heard of Katusha's Giampaolo Caruso until he crossed  in fifth place on Mollema's back wheel. We reckoned Frank Schleck would take his first stage win, but in reality he finished in 6th. Ten Dam, our choice for 2nd, managed 8th. We were right about the overall classification, predicting a shake-up, but we really wish we hadn't been - the horrific crash which has left 3rd place Mauricio Soler in intensive care sees the other riders move up one place.


Today, we expect Cunego to deliver the goods and at this point in the proceedings we're also going to mark him as favourite for overall victory on Sunday when the race ends. We're going for Kruijswijk in 2nd, and since we're still gunning for the older Schleck brother we hope to see him take 3rd. We think Mollema will repeat his placing of yesterday and manage another 4th, followed by ten Dam in 5th. Let's just hope there's no further injuries, but we won't be surprised if anyone drops out and abandons the race today - this is a stage as hard as anything in the Grand Tours.