When the Austrian Gall attacked out of the group of three a good three kilometres before the end of the mountain finish in Villars-sur-Ollon, only the victorious Dane had the legs to go one better. For the 22-year-old, who also took the lead in the overall standings, it was the first victory of his career on the World Tour.
The top 10 of stage 3
- Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) 3:29:14
- Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën Team) +0:03
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +0:12
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:21
- Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:21
- Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:21
- Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma) +0:21
- Rigoberto Uran (EF Education EasyPost) +0:21
- Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:37
- Romain Bardet (Team DSM) +0:45
"That's incredible. When Evenepoel attacked first, I wasn't sure if I could follow him. And then I was worried when Felix attacked again. With Remco, I thought he was playing games," said Skjelmose, who has already won stages in the smaller races Etoile de Besseges and the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var this season.
"I had a big question mark over my climbing skills. It wasn't the hardest stage, but you still have to win it first. Now we hope that we can defend the yellow jersey as a team until the second time trial. And then I'll have to do it myself," Skjelmose planned the next few days with renewed self-confidence.
The overall standings after the 3rd stage
- Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) 7:36:31
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:17
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +0:24
- Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:39
- Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:49
- Rigoberto Uran (EF Education EasyPost) +0:56
- Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma) +1:04
- Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) +1:05
- Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën Team) +1:07
- Romain Bardet (Team DSM) +1:15
How the 3rd stage of the Tour de Suisse 2023 went
With the breakaway group around Lilian Calmejane (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies), Alexander Kamp (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and the holder of the mountain jersey, Nickolas Zuowsky (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), which formed just four kilometres after the start, the leaders of the peloton were satisfied.
The maximum lead of three and a half minutes was enough to reach the summit of the Col des Mosses (1st category) in the Swiss rain. Calmejane secured 12 points ahead of Zukowsky (8), allowing the Canadian to defend his mountain jersey. The quartet was caught on the descent.
Together, the peloton set off on the almost ten kilometre long final climb up to Villars-sur-Ollon. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who secured the intermediate sprint at the foot of the mountain and defended his black jersey as best sprinter, did the pace work in the first kilometre before falling back and Soudal - Quick Step took over for Remco Evenepoel. Surprisingly early on, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan Team) and Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) can be torn.
Evenepoel attacked with 6.4 kilometres to go. Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) and Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën Team) were initially the only two who were able to follow. However, they were not really able to lose the majority of the chasers. A group around Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), Rigoberto Uran (EF Education EasyPost), Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe), Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) could not be shaken off.
With 2300 metres to go, Gall launched another attack and Skjelmose followed suit, while Evenepoel was swallowed up by the group and even had to let go briefly. Shortly before the Flamme Rouge, the Dane had caught up with the Austrian. The two duelled briefly before Skjelmose launched the final attack 400 metres before the finish, which gave him three seconds on Gall. Shortly before the group, Ayuso crossed the finish line in third place.
