Mathias Vacek completed what he had already set in motion with his impressive performance on Stage 2 in Locarno: a charge towards the podium at one of the most prestigious stage races of the season, the Tour de Suisse.
On the demanding mountain stage around Villars-sur-Ollon, featuring more than 4,200 metres of elevation gain over 151 kilometres, the Czech champion proved remarkably resilient against the race’s climbing specialists on the final day.
In the end, Vacek not only successfully defended the White Jersey as the race’s best young rider—a jersey he had worn since Stage 1—but also held on to the third place overall that he had taken over in Saturday’s individual time trial in Aarburg.
The 24-year-old, who celebrated his birthday just nine days ago, crossed the finish line with a 41-second advantage over Norway’s Tobias Foss and finished only 21 seconds behind overall runner-up Richard Carapaz.
Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images
“If somebody would have told me that I would be fighting with the climbers here, I would not have believed it – okay, Pogi is on another level, but Carapaz and these guys are proper mountain goats. So it’s amazing,” Vacek said.
“I’m so happy that I could do it. It’s one of the biggest successes of my career and I couldn’t be happier with my own performance and with the team support and everything. Really, really good!”
Throughout the day, Vacek was perfectly protected by his teammates, with Lidl-Trek jerseys consistently visible at the front of the peloton—except for Bauke Mollema’s.
The Dutchman had made it into the day’s breakaway shortly after the start and was therefore able to play a crucial role later in the race.
Once he was caught by the group of favourites, Mollema immediately dropped back to support his teammate, 15 years his junior.
He then paced Vacek for two kilometres on the final climb, helping to limit the losses to rivals Foss and Carapaz.
As a result, Vacek conceded only eleven seconds to the Norwegian and just sixteen seconds to the Ecuadorian. Only the outstanding Tadej Pogačar managed to gain more than 23 seconds on him on the demanding final ascent.
“I did another step in my performance and all the work paid off. That’s great,” Vacek smiled. “I am super happy and looking forward to the next races.”
The first of those will be the Czech National Championships, where he will look to defend his national champion’s jersey.
In Mathias’ words:
"It was probably one of the hardest days in my life on the bike. But I knew already at the start it would be a hard fight – especially if I wanted to keep my third place in the GC. But I also knew that I have a really good shape. So my confidence was quite high and the legs felt good again from the start. So I really wanted to give it all and go for it – for the team and also for my personal success."
