Rigoberto Uran blasts Mountain Time to pieces ahead of Queen Stage Showdown

Colombian Rigoberto Uran burst back into contention at the Tour de Suisse on Saturday with a sizzling time-trial win ahead of a last-day showdown in the Alps

Ineos Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz was fourth fastest to retain the overall lead after the peculiar, high-altitude 23km time-trial with a 6.5 percent gradient ascent that peaked at 2,046m followed by a similar descent.

Uran was quickest to the summit of the Oberalp pass and then went all out in a high-stakes descent to set up a tense finale Sunday on a stage that includes three peaks and 40km of climbing.

The 34-year-old Uran trails Carapaz by just 17 seconds.

French world champion Julian Alaphilippe was second on the day to stay in contention, but is expected to leave the race as his partner is about to give birth.

I’m surprised, even me, but my legs today were incredible,” Uran said, “This year is so special for me. I haven’t raced much, also because of a small problem, but I had good preparation for the Tour de France and done some hard racing here at the Tour de Suisse.”

Uran avoided making any major statements about trying to snatch overall victory from Carapaz on Sunday’s final stage.

“I know but this race is hard because my first win in this race was in 2007, many years ago. Today’s time trial was special because there was the climb and then the downhill. It was a special day for me and the team."

And so will he attack Carapaz?

“With these great legs, I’ll try. But it’s a hard stage and the Tour de Suisse ends tomorrow.”  

VIDEO: 2021 Tour de Suisse Stage 7 Highlights

2021 Tour de Suisse Stage 7 Top 10

1 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education-Nippo 0:36:02
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:40
3 Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:54
4 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers
5 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:56
6 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:58
7 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:01:00
8 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
9 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team DSM 0:01:04
10 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:05

2021 Tour de Suisse GC after Stage 7

1 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers 20:37:27
2 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education-Nippo 0:00:17
3 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:39
4 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:07
5 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana-Premier Tech 0:01:15
6 Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-up Nation 0:03:10
7 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:03:16
8 Sam Oomen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:03:39
9 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:43
10 Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Team BikeExchange 0:04:29