Claire Steels rode excellently at the Tour de Suisse, staying consistent with two top tens, and finishing in sixth overall.
With the first stage being a criterium, little occurred in the overall classification, but it was the time trial on stage two which caused the first big shakeup. With Anna Kiesenhofer being our best finisher, taking sixth, Claire Steels was not far behind in seventh, moving her up to tenth overall. Stage three then saw Claire move up again to eighth, finishing twelfth on the day, despite crashing on a descent, chasing back and being caught behind another crash.
After these impressive performances, Steels was confident she could ride well again on the final stage, and the hardest one of the race. The stage covered four categorised ascents, and climbed nearly two thousand meters in just one hundred kilometers. This, coupled with the heat of the day, made the race highly attritional, and attacks flew as soon as the flag was dropped.
Coming into the final climb, Steels found herself in a select group behind the breakaway and the day’s eventual winners but still dug deep to bag herself another top ten. This ride also moved her up two places to sixth overall in the general classification, a ride made more impressive after she crashed out of her last race just ten days ago.
Talking about her performance on the fourth stage and over the four days, Steels was delighted that she could bring home a good result for the team.
“I’m really happy. It was a really hard final climb and I suffered a lot, but I’m really happy with the stage result, and sixth in the final General Classification. It has been a great week of racing with the girls here in Switzerland!”
