The 2017 Tour de Suisse Preview

The 81st edition of the Tour de Suisse starts June 10th and consists of 9 stages with time trials, circuits and some tough mountain stages across the beautiful and majestic country of Switzerland that boasts some of the best cycling in the world

Astana's Miguel Angel Lopez won the 2016 edition of the race. Peter Sagan holds the record for the most stage wins at 13 stages.

The Race Route

The stage race starts with with a very short 6km time trial in Cham on Saturday June 10th.

Stage 2 is a tough circuit around Cham with four ascents of the climb of Horben making up 2,412 metres of total climbing.

Stage 3 heads south from Menziken to Bern and climb the 724m Ebnet, 686m Langnau i.E. and the 586m Krauchthal before descending into Bern.

Stage 4 is the first for the climbers with the peloton starting in Bern and finishing at Villars-sur-Ollon. It includes the tough climb of the Col des Mosses at 1,445m and then the finish up the climb to Villars-sur-Ollon at 1,327m. The stage will surely see great racing and be the first indication of those looking to win the overall classificiation.

A hilly stage 5 follows with a start in the town of Bex and finishes in Cevio after a brief visit to Northern Italy, climbing the fiercesome Simplonpass at just over 2,000 metres, halfway through the 220 km stage.

Two mountain stage finishes await the peloton next.

On stage 6 at La Punt after climbing the 2,315 Albulapass and climbing the 2,012m San Bernardino pass earlier into the 160 km stage.

Stage 7 will be crucial in deciding the overall winner of the race, climbing up to Tiefenbachferner at 2,780 metres.

The final weekend in Schaffhausen will bring the race to a close with a circuit race featuring 8 laps of the climb of Herblinggen before moving onto the final 28.6 km ITT on Stage 9.

Overall the 2017 Tour of Suisse is a challenging race that will suit climbers, puncheurs and strong teams able to endure the tough mountain stages.

The Favorites

Many of the Grand Tour contenders have opted for the Criterium du Dauphine the week before, however the Tour de Suisse provides an alternative approach to the Tour de France. Despite the lessor number of Tour de France big hitters, winning the Tour of Suisse will be no easier.

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) beat Ion Izagirre (Movistar) by a slim margin of just 12 seconds to take the title last year. 

Both Miguel Angel Lopez and Ion Izagirre are both down to ride this year.

Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) is confirmed in taking part, hot off winning the Giro d'Italia and taking part in the inaugural Hammer series of races and is a clear favorite along with Izagirre for the overall classification.

Greg Van Avermaet will lead BMC Racing, who field a strong team.

Another strong team is Quick-Step Floors with Philippe Gilbert, Gianluca Brambilla, David de la Cruz, Yves Lampaert, Zdenek Stybar and bear-crashing Matteo Trentin who has been training at altitude at Lake Tahoe since the Tour of California.

Steven Kruijswijk will also be riding with Team Lotto NL- Jumbo as will Rui Costa with UAE Team Emirates and John Degenkolb for Trek-Segafredo

Joe Dombrowski, Lawson Craddock and Taylor Phinney field a strong US presence for Cannondale Drapac.

Wout Poels will lead Team Sky.

Some of the top sprinter's include Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Elia Viviani (Team Sky), Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors), Michael Matthews (SunWeb) and Magnus Cort Neilsen (Orica-Scott), who will battle it out for sprint supremacy.

Live Coverage

Gran Fondo Guide will be providing daily live coverage from each stage, including photos, video race results, rider reactions and video highlights on our 2017 Tour de Suisse LIVESTREAM.

Be sure to tune in from Saturday June 8th to Sunday June 18th and get your appetite wet ahead of this year's Tour de France.

2016 Tour de Suisse Results

1 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 30:55:58 
2 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:12 
3 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:18 
4 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) IAM Cycling 0:00:42 
5 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:01:04 
6 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:26 
7 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre - Merida 0:02:09 
8 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:02:38 
9 Simon Spilak (Slo) Team Katusha 0:02:48 
10 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha 0:05:08

VIDEO: 2017 Tour de Suisse Trailer

2017 Tour de Suisse Provisional Start List