Tour de Suisse 2020 - virtual: Roche climbs to victory on Nufenen Pass

Nicolas Roche wins the 3rd stage of 'The Digital Swiss 5' with finish atop the Nufenen Pass. Ilnur Zakarin and Larry Warbasse finish in second and third in the 33.1 kilometres race with 1,512 vertical metres. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results stage 3 Tour de Suisse 2020 virtual

1. Nicolas Roche (irl) 1.12.11
2. Ilnur Zakarin (rus) + 1.10
3. Larry Warbasse (usa) + 1.17
4. Chris Hamilton (aus) + 1.40
5. James Whelan (aus) + 1.51
6. Michal Kwiatkowski (pol) + 2.04
7. Hermann Pernsteiner (aut) + 2.30
8. Louis Meintjes (rsa) + 2.54
9. Rein Taaramae (est) + 3.08
10. Gavin Mannion (usa) + 3.25

Race report
Nate Brown, James Whelan and Pierre Latour open up a gap in the early kilometres. The French rider goes alone and distances the others.

While Brown falls back Nicolas Roche, Larry Warbasse, Michal Kwiatkowski and Ilnur Zakarin come moving up. While Roche overhauls Whelan, Latour opens up a gap of more than 1 kilometre.

The riders enter the climb in this order: Latour, Roche, Warbasse, Kwiatkowski, Zakarin and Whelan with Cris Hamilton a little bit further behind. Strangely, Latour disappears from the screen. Let’s say he punctures virtually. (In fact, the jury decided to take him out of the race because he has ‘unhuman powers’ due to technical problems.)

Roche puts on an impressive performance on the Nufenen Pass. During the whole climb he leads the race 400 metres ahead of Zakarin.

Read about the route of the start list of The Digital Swiss 5.