Team Sky decided to take it easy in today's fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse and sprinter Ben Swift didn't get himself involved in the dangerous finale. Instead, they save energy for tomorrow's stage where they will go all out for their fast Brit on a hilly course that suits him well.
Team Sky came through a crash-affected finale on the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse unscathed as Sacha Modolo sprinted to an opportunist victory in Büren an der Aare.
With more pivotal stages to come, Team Sky opted to keep themselves out of trouble as the sprint specialists battled it out for the second day in succession, and were all credited with the same time as Modolo after a three-man tumble halted their progress inside the final kilometre.
Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) was among those casualties after two riders collided immediately in front of him on the tight penultimate bend, and as he got back to his feet, Modolo (Lampre Merida) swept around the final corner on Peter Sagan’s wheel before passing the Cannondale rider for his seventh win of the season.
The result had no bearing on the general classification, which meant that Peter Kennaugh and Sergio Henao retained their respective 11th and 15th places in the overall standings. Both riders still sit less than 37 seconds adrift of race leader Tony Martin (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step), who defended his six-second lead over Tom Dunmoulin (Giant-Shimano) for a fourth day in succession.
After the stage, Sports Dircetor Dan Frost was pleased everything had run smoothly and insisted his riders would be far more active on Thursday's stage which he believes could suit Swift.
"It was always the plan to take it as easy as possible today because we have a big day tomorrow for Ben. The last lap there includes two tricky climbs and we're going to see what we can achieve over those, and then at the end.
"I think Cannondale and a few other teams like us will be interested in pushing a high pace to try and drop the purer sprinters, so we need to stay attentive and ride hard when it counts.
"It was a fast stage today with long stretches of tailwind, and that meant it was a really fast race. Ben looked comfortable though and saved as much energy as he could. Sergio and Pete did as well. They are focusing on Friday's time trial and the two tough mountain stages at the weekend which will decide the race, so once again, it's important they don't lose any time."
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