Just under a month after his coronavirus withdrawal from the Giro d'Italia, road cycling world champion Remco Evenepoel is clearly not yet back in top form.
The Belgian was thwarted by Danish youngster Mattias Skjelmose on the rainy first mountain stage of the Tour de Suisse and missed out on the yellow jersey he was aiming for. Evenepoel finished in fourth place on the third stage after 143.8 kilometres from Tafers to Villars-sur-Ollon.
The day's victory and first place in the overall standings went to 22-year-old Skjelmose, who won ahead of Austrian Felix Gall and Spaniard Juan Ayuso. The Dane, who took over the yellow jersey from Swiss rider Stefan Küng, is now 17 seconds ahead of Evenepoel in the overall standings.
Schachmann finishes in 21st place
Two-time German champion Maximilian Schachmann had to let go on the 10.7 kilometre final climb and lost a total of 1:50 minutes in 24th place. The Berlin-born rider slipped to 21st place in the overall standings.
The next climb awaits the riders on Wednesday. The 152.5 kilometre section from Monthey to Leukerbad includes the climbs to Crans-Montana and Dorben.
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