Thibau Nys claimed a hard earned second place, narrowly missing victory to American Neilson Powless.
Having won this race 2 years ago, Thibau was always going to be up for the fight today. A rolling 173km’s around the Aargau region of Switzerland in over 30 degree heat meant it was a very attritional day. Our Devo team rider, Nils Aebersold, set up shop on the front the peloton to make sure the breakaway never got too sizeable a gap. When the accelerations came in the second half of the race, newly crowned American road race champ Quinn Simmons set off on a long range attack. Even when the lead group was a fraction in size, Lidl Trek still had the numbers.
Lennard Kaman and Simmons initiated multiple accelerations in the final 10 km to reduce the group and isolate the other teams. With roughly 5 km to go, Thibau and Andrea Bagioli made a strong acceleration, which forced a selection and left only a handful of riders in the lead group.
However, with 3km remaining, Neilson Powless of EF Education-EasyPost countered with a well-timed solo attack. Nys tried to organize the chase behind but lacked full support — which gave Powless the gap he needed to secure the win. Thibau opened the sprint to the line with 400 metres to go taking second spot on the podium.
Thibau Nys -
Today went better than I expected to be honest. I just missed that last 2-3 percent to let it fall in the right direction. I really can't complain, I'm happy with the feeling and I think the best guy won today. When my legs are good, it's always better to come to the finish with as small a group as possible so I think I did perfect to react to the attacks. It was a bit of gamble in the end and I just missed out. My sprint was good but it was for second place.
