Thomas is unable to prevail in Tour de Suisse

Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas was pipped to victory in the Tour de Suisse as Simon Spilak took the general classification by five seconds after yesterday’s time trial finale.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Jun 2015, 07:34 BST
Geraint Thomas on his way to second place in the Tour de Suisse (Picture: Jean-Christophe Bott/AP).Geraint Thomas on his way to second place in the Tour de Suisse (Picture: Jean-Christophe Bott/AP).
Geraint Thomas on his way to second place in the Tour de Suisse (Picture: Jean-Christophe Bott/AP).

Thomas began the day as the favourite as he trailed overnight leader Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) by 34 seconds, with Spilak a further 13 seconds back.

But while Thomas had no problem overhauling Frenchman Pinot, Spilak went even faster to claim his first stage race win since the 2010 Tour de Romandie.

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Tom Dumoulin, of Giant-Alpecin, took the stage win, 18 seconds ahead of Spilak, and in the process bumped Pinot off the podium entirely as he claimed third place.

Local favourite Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory) set the third fastest time on the 38.4km stage around Bern, with Thomas down in fifth place, 36 seconds slower than Dumoulin.

Lisa Brennauer clinched the overall victory in the Aviva Women’s Tour, surviving an attacking final day of racing through the Chiltern Hills from Marlow to Hemel Hempstead, won by Hannah Barnes.

Talented youngster Thomas Pidcock continued a rich vein of form when he raced to victory at the Harrogate Big Bike Bash criterium on Saturday evening.

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The Leeds-based 15-year-old took the win ahead of Holmfirth CC rival Lee Brown in front of a large and enthusistic crowd.

Pidcock had already won both youth and senior races at the Polypipe Pontefract Grand Prix a fortnight earlier. At the Doncaster Grand Prix the week before that he won the youth race then finished third in the prestigious elite senior race.

The Harrogate races were the highlight of a weekend of events in the town inspired by last year’s visit of the Tour de France. They included closed roads and guided rides to allow people to get on their bikes in a safe, fun way.

In time trialling, Barnsley Road Club’s Anthony Bromley proved quickest over the 25-mile course in Topcliffe, North Yorkshire to win the Yorkshire Road Club 25 event. His time of 51:54 saw him beat Paul Thirling of Stockton Wheelers by 11 seconds. Peter Barusevicus of All Terrain Cycles’ time of 52:22 was enough to put him on the third step of the podium.