Tom Dumoulin defended his overall lead with success and took 9th on stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse, through a well-timed attack Croatian Kristijan Durasek won the stage.

With Tom Dumoulin in the yellow leaders jersey, the peloton at the Tour de Suisse prepared for a battle for the general classification as stage 2 already included 4 registered climbs along its 161.1km.

It was a long fight until the escape group got clear from the bunch, as 4 riders eventually succeeded. Team Giant-Alpecin accounted for the main part of the pacing work and was assisted by the other teams while the race entered the finale.

Two 1st category climbs made the finale quite selective. After the second and last passage of the Michaelskreuz, 9 strong riders were left in the first group and Dumoulin was one of them.

While countering several attacks, Dumoulin rode a very strong race and finished 9th in the group sprint. With a late attack Kristijan Durasek (Lampre – Merida) managed to stay 4” in front of the sprinting group to win the stage. Dumoulin remains the overall leader.

Coach Addy Engels said: “Of course we are happy with the excellent performance by Tom and the team. After the break got clear we took the control of the bunch with Georg [Preidler]and Johannes [Fröhlinger] and kept the gap on a maximum of three minutes. After the first passage of the final climb, the other teams took over the control.

“The guys did a good job in positioning Tom in the front before the final climb, as nine riders including Tom got away. From that moment it was a matter of following the first group and if possible countering the attacks as well. It was a difficult finale and Tom showed that he is able to compete with the best uphill.

“We will take it day by day and see how long we can hold the lead. Tomorrow will be a less difficult stage with the Gotthardpass climb right from the start and later on a couple of hilly sections so we probably have our chances with John [Degenkolb] there as well.”

Dumoulin considered the 4km climb of the Michaelskreuz as a time trial: “I could follow the other guys in the leading group by riding my own rhythm.

“As I said yesterday, I will try to keep the jersey as long as possible and after today I have it for at least one extra day. Today was a difficult stage, which we knew beforehand. I did everything to keep the jersey and I succeeded.

“By consolidating the lead after today’s stage, my GC chances increase a bit. It remains hard to predict what to expect about my final GC, as I’ve returned from the team’s altitude camp and I may get a setback from that, hopefully this happens on a sprint stage.

“Only the mountain top finish at the Rettenbachgletcher on Wednesday worries me a little and I will lose time there. I hope the time lost will not be too extreme so that I can strike again in the closing time trial in Bern.”