Rui Costa (Movistar) won the final, uphill time trial stage of 2013 Tour de Suisse on Sunday, and with it took the overall win for the second consecutive year.
The Portuguese rider finished the stage 21 seconds ahead of Tanel Kangert (Astana) and with 29 seconds over Bauke Mollema (Blanco).
Race leader before the stage start, Mathias Frank (BMC Racing) put in a spirited ride to try and retain the race lead in his home nation, but finished in 19th spot, one minute and 56 seconds adrift of Costa. Costa had trailed Frank by just 13 seconds in the overall classification at the start of the day and easily overhauled the deficit.
Costa ended the race 1-02 ahead of Mollema in the overall classification, with Roman Kreuziger (Saxo Tinkoff) at 1-10.
Irishman Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) also put in a good ride to finish 12th on the final stage, and eighth overall.
Highest-placed British rider on the final stage was Josh Edmondson (Sky), who finished in 34th place - one place ahead of Andy Schleck (RadioShack).
Pre-stage favourite Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) appeared to struggle to find a comfortable cadence on the climb to place 10th on the stage, but it was enough to elevate him to seventh overall.
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Another surprise ride came from the previous day's stage winner, Peter Sagan (Cannondale), who posted a time that was good enough for 20th on the stage and ahead of some notable climbers.
The 26.8-kilometre route featured a flat opening section, and a 1,000 metre climb over the final 10km. Many riders elected to use a time trial bike for the first section, and the stop and swap to a lighter weight regular road bike for the uphill section.
Results
Tour de Suisse 2013, stage nine: Bad Ragaz to Flumserberg, 26.8km time trial
1. Rui Costa (Por) Movistar in 51-56
2. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana at 21 secs
3. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Blanco at 29 secs
4. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale at 42 secs
5. Andrey Amador (CRC) Movistar at 43 secs
6. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ at 55 secs
7. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Saxo-Tinkoff at 1-00
8. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha at 1-05
9. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana at 1-06
10. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 1-19
Other
12. Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp at 1-32
34. Josh Edmondson (GBr) Sky at 3-04
62. David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp at 4-53
103. Luke Rowe (GBr) Sky at 7-56
132. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (GBr) Sky at 11-00
142. Ben Swift (GBr) Sky at 12-43
Final overall classification
1. Rui Costa (Por) Movistar in 31-08-11
2. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Blanco at 1-02
3. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Saxo-Tinkoff at 1-10
4. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ at 1-26
5. Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing at 1-43
6. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana at 1-51
7. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 2-23
8. Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp at 2-42
9. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha at 2-42
10. Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge at 3-44
Rui Costa on his way to winning the stage and overall
Rui Costa tops the podium, with Roman Kreuziger (left) in third and Bauke Mollema (right) in second
Related links
Tour de Suisse stage nine photo gallery
Sagan strikes again in Tour de Suisse
Tour de Suisse stage eight photo gallery
Costa wins Tour de Suisse stage seven
Tour de Suisse stage seven photo gallery
Rast wins Suisse stage six from breakaway
Tour de Suisse stage six photo gallery
Kristoff out-paces Sagan to win stage five of Tour de Suisse
Tour de Suisse stage five photo gallery
Arnaud Demare wins Tour de Suisse stage four
Tour de Suisse stage four photo gallery
Hesjedal crashes out of Tour de Suisse
Sagan wins Tour de Suisse stage three
Tour de Suisse stage three photo gallery
Ryder Hesjedal crashes out of Tour de Suisse
Mollema wins stage two of Tour de Suisse
Cameron Meyer wins Tour de Suisse opening time trial
Tour de Suisse 2013: The Big Preview
Tour de Suisse 2013: Who will win?
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Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.
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