Second day of racing, and second breakaway for the Groupama-FDJ cycling team. After Lewis Askey on Sunday, Matteo Badilatti managed to go up the road on Monday in the Tour de Suisse. In Aesch, after almost 200 kilometres of a hilly course, the breakaway even got the better of the peloton. However, only Andreas Leknessund was able to stay away, as Matteo Badilatti got dropped with twenty kilometres to go. Like the previous day, Stefan Küng took seventh place, in the sprint, within a reduced bunch. The time trial specialist now sits fifth place overall.
Just like on the opening stage, an undulating profile was looming for the riders on Monday for stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse. It could only mean one thing. “We thought this morning that the break could make it until the end, so we absolutely needed to have a rider in the front”, said Philippe Mauduit. With the first kilometres being ridden on hard terrain, the right move did not go straight away. Thirty minutes of fight were therefore needed for a group of ten men to make a serious gap. “It is never easy to know who will manage to enter it”, continued Philippe. “In the end, Matteo took it, and on a stage like this, it was pretty good”. “It was hard to take the breakaway, because the start was very fast”, attested the Swiss man. In the lead, he found himself with Matthew Holmes (Lotto-Soudal), Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies), Michael Schär (AG2R-Citroën), Andreas Leknessund (DSM), Jonas Rutsch (EF Education-Easy Post), Leonardo Basso (Astana), Joel Suter (UAE Team Emirates), Claudio Imhof and Simon Vitzthum (Switzerland). Once away, the fugitives were able to build a solid lead of about four minutes, which even extended to six minutes after the first categorized climb of the day, seventy kilometres from the finish. The breakaway was then reduced to seven riders, who tackled the climb of Eichenberg, with 45 kilometres to go, with a nice lead of around five minutes. It then became harder for Matteo Badilatti to follow his companions.
“I did my best with today’s legs”, Matteo Badilatti
“I noticed in the final that I didn’t have much left in the tank, so when they attacked, I picked up my pace and managed to come back the first time,” he said. “Unfortunately, not the second time”. After returning to five riders prior to the last climb of the day, the Swiss climber therefore came too short in the Challpass (6.3 km at 6.2%), twenty kilometres from the line. “I didn’t have good legs, but I tried, I gave it a go and I did my best with today’s legs,” he explained. “Of course, it’s disappointing, but I did what I could. I have no regrets, we tried to take advantage of the situation, and we will try again. On a personal note, I had a bad day yesterday, it was a little better today, but it wasn’t enough yet. It can only get better over the week.” Matteo Badilatti was caught on the last climb while Andreas Leknessund managed to hold off the peloton further up the road. Within the bunch, Stefan Küng sprinted to a solid seventh position, moving up to fifth overall. “Unfortunately, Matteo came against stronger riders than him, and Leknessund put on a nice ride to finish it off”, said Philippe. “In the back, the team supported Stefan and Thibaut, and it was a rather calm day in the peloton. Stefan took seventh place and that confirms what he did yesterday. He had not raced since Paris-Roubaix, and we can see that he has worked well to arrive in good shape here on the Tour de Suisse and for his next goals”. On the eve of another day made for the breakaway on Tuesday, the double European time trial champion is in fifth place overall, ten seconds behind leader Stephen Williams.
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