Tour de Suisse: Tadej Pogačar powers to stage 5 win and seals commanding overall victory - Australia News Beep

The final survivor from the day’s early break, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), was agonisingly caught with just 800m to go after taking on much of the final climb solo, but he did manage to hold on for second on the stage as a small consolation prize.

Starting the day with a lead of 4:22 after winning the opening stage and Saturday’s time trial, there was never much doubt that Pogačar was going to win the GC on Sunday, the only question was whether he would also win the stage and complete a hat-trick to go with his yellow jersey.

Racing with relative restraint – by his standards – the Slovenian didn’t attack until 9km to go on the fourth and final ascent of the Col de la Croix, but once he went, there was nothing anyone could do. He caught and passed all the breakaway riders who had been out front all day long and soloed to the stage victory in Villars-sur-Ollon.

None of Pogačar’s GC rivals could follow him when he attacked – EF Education-EasyPost’s Richard Carapaz briefly tried but did not last long – and in fact many of the breakaway finished the stage ahead of the other GC riders.

That meant that there was no significant change to the top of the standings, bar Pogačar widening his gap. Carapaz secured second, a hefty 6:32 down after only five stages, whilst Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) completed the podium and won the best young rider’s jersey.

In winning the Tour de Suisse, Pogačar ticked off one of the major stage races he hadn’t yet one, and gave an ominous display of form two weeks out from the Tour de France, where he will be chasing a record-equalling fifth overall title.