Tour de Suisse, stage 4: Marcel Wyss chasing the best climber’s jersey

Close, but not quite!  Well placed with just 500 meters to go till the finish in Buochs, Heinrich Haussler could not quite find the opening needed to take the win at the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, which left from Innertkirchen and was ultimately won by Arnaud Démarre (FDJ).

The puncheur from IAM Cycling still managed to hold onto 6^th place while promising that he will make similarly strong efforts on up-coming stage finishes in Leuggern, Meilen and Bad Ragaz.

Even if the Australian classics specialist felt disappointed with his day, the smiles returned to the faces of Marcel Wyss, Johann Tschopp and Sébastien Reichenbach.

Having mostly recovered from the after-effects of his fall on the first stage, Wyss decided he was fit to chase for the king of the mountain points.

“I was on my training routes from Innertkirchen today.  And I passed about 5 kilometers from my home, so I decided I would play my cards to figure in the mountain’s ranking for the climbing jersey.  I took a few points today because I don’t want to finish the Tour of Switzerland with any regrets.  I’m not obsessed with winning the jersey, but if the opportunity arises, I will certainly not miss it.  There is still a lot of racing to do before Sunday, and there are some interesting climbs to come.”  

Remaining in 17^th place overall, 2’38” behind the leader Matthias Frank, Johann Tschopp started feeling like himself again through the course of the stage.

“I still felt the fatigue of yesterday’s trial.  But I am especially pleased to see that the sun and warmth have returned.  This motivated me today, though the final was still dangerous.”

Sébastien Reichenbach echoed his teammate’s sentiments, and held his 19^th place, 2’41” in arrears.

“I’m not displeased with how today went for me.  From kilometer 0, the break made it possible for the peloton to organize and recover a bit from the previous day’s fatigue.  Of course Heinrich is not happy with only taking 6^th, but there will be at least two more stages where he can really show his speed.”