A combative Jhonatan Narváez held off the peloton and out-sprinted his breakaway companion Xando Meurisse to win the third stage of the Tour de Suisse.
The pair had been in the day’s early break before attacking on the first categorised climb of the day, Wildhaus.
With a flat run into the finish the sprinters teams had held out hope of contesting the stage and gave a spirited chase into the finish, but the leading pair crossed the line with just tens of metres between them and the rampaging bunch.
Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) was the best of the rest winning the bunch sprint for third place.
Narváez’s win is the second for the UAE Emirates-XRG team after his team leader Tadej Pogačar took a dominant win and the general classification lead on stage one. The Ecuadorian likely expected to be working for his leader for most of this week but Pogačar’s 2.50 lead has given his team-mates freedom to pursue their own glory.
This year has been a banner year for Narváez, who won three stages of the Giro d’Italia last month and now has carried his good form into the Tour de Suisse.
Last year, his first with UAE Emirates after leaving Ineos Grenadiers, he showed signs that he was capable of such results on a regular basis but often worked in the service of others.
Soon after the start the race climbed the first category ascent of Wildhaus. That served to shake-up the running order and by the top only two riders remained out front, Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Xando Meurisse (Pinarello Q36.5).
They crested the climb with the lead of over four minutes over the peloton containing yellow jersey wearer and Narváez’s team-mate Tadej Pogačar.
In the middle was a group of eight riders comprised of Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Antonie Tideri (Barhain Victorious), Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ United), Michał Kwiatkowski (Netcompany Ineos), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal-Quick Step), Simon Dalby (Uno-X Mobility) and Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling).
The leaders gap grew on the descent as they benefited from descending on dry roads while the chasers and the peloton both had to deal with increasingly heavy rain.
However, as soon as the race hit flatter ground the peloton’s power began to show as they steadily reeled in the chasing group. They were caught with 48 km to go but at that point the two lone leaders still had an advantage of over three minutes.
As the race became hit by very heavy rain they were able to hold the gap steady despite the chasing of EF Education-EasyPost, working for Luke Lamperti, and Visma-Lease a Bike, working for Matthew Brennan.
But as the finish got closer they were being pegged back faster and faster, with 15km to go the pair had a lead of just 1.25. By 10km to go the rain had returned and they enjoyed a gap of a minute, victory a slim but tantalising possibility.
With two kilometres to go NSN and Bahrain Victorious came to the fore to try and push the pace further for their sprinters.
Although the bunch could see the leaders in the final straight there was eventually nothing they could do to catch them.
Tomorrow will be a stage for the rouleurs as the peloton takes on a 24km time trial.
Results
Tour de Suisse, stage 3: Bad Ragaz > Bad Ragaz (157km)
1. Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu) UAE Team Emirates-XRG in 3:34.46
2. Xando Meurisse (Bel) Pinarello Q36.5
3. Magnus Court (Den) Uno-X Mobility
4. Marijn van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost
5. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Premier Tech
6. Corbin Strong (NZl) NSN Cycling Team
7. Axel Laurance (Fra) Netcompany Ineos
8. Michael Matthews (Aus) Jayco AlUla
9. Pau Miquel (Esp) Bahrain Victorious
10. Finn Fisher-Black (NZl) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, all at same time
General classification after stage 3
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 10:29:52
2. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +2.50
3. Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +3.07
4. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +4.16
5. Finlay Pickering (Gbr) Jayco AlUla, +4.41
6. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +4.44
7. Ilan van Wilder (Bel) Soudal-Quick Step
8. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, at s.t.
9. Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu) UAE Team Emirates-XRG , +4.57
10. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Decathlon CMA CGM, +5.11
