Stage 6 of Tour de Suisse 2024 had been shortened by the race organizer due to adverse weather conditions on the original route. The revised route was 42.5-kilometer short and took the riders from Ulrichen to Blatten in Switzerland. The stage would culminate with the Category One Blatten climb (5.8 km; 8.8 percent average gradient). 

The stage started fast, and the beginning of the stage was characterized by several breakaway attempts. Approximately the first 35 kilometers of the stage were downhill, so very high speeds could be generated by the professional cyclists on their road bikes.

Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) formed a viable breakaway group together with Fran van den Broek (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) and Anders Foldager (Jayco-Alula). With fifteen kilometers remaining they had an advantage of 01:15 minutes over the chasing peloton.

The main peloton was headed by riders from UAE Team Emirates and they were setting a very fast pace. They were now approaching the final climb to the finish line, and they would be hitting it hard from its very beginning.

The front trio hit the final uphill part of the stage with approximately eight kilometers remaining. Denmark’s Foldager was dropped from the trio almost immediately thereafter. Switzerland’s Bissegger bravely fought on in companionship with van den Broek.

Ineos-Grenadiers riders moved to the front of the main peloton. But UAE Team Emirates wanted to lead, so they took over again.

Bissegger left van den Broek behind with 5.6 kilometers left. He was flying today. But van den Broek moved past the Swiss rider five hundred meters later. Now it was his turn to suffer, and he would only have his own watts to help keep the chasing peloton behind him.

General Classification leader Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) attacked from the main peloton with 3.7 kilometers remaining. He soon caught van den Broek and left him behind.

Last year’s winner Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) initiated a chase and did his best to try to keep up with Yates. Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers) and Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) stuck to the rear wheel of the Danish National Champion’s Trek bike. They were only thirty meters behind Yates on the climb with 2.1 kilometers remaining of the stage.

But it was still Yates who was at the front on his Colnago bike with 1.9 kilometers remaining.

After Skjelmose had done all the hard chase work, Bernal attacked from behind to try to catch Yates while leaving Skjelmose and Almeida behind. But Skjelmose refused to give in.

Yates was only a few meters ahead of Bernal, Skjelmose and Almeida with one kilometer remaining.

Almeida bridged to Yates with seven hundred meters left of today’s stage 6. The UAE Team Emirates duo pressed on, while Skjelmose and Bernal were chasing from behind – Bernal did not contribute to the chase effort.

Almeida accelerated from Yates with two hundred meters left. Almeida won the stage ahead of Yates, while Skjelmose completed the stage podium.

Adam Yates extended his lead in the General Classification.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for additional coverage from Tour de Suisse 2024.

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