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Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) survived a late charge from Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) to take his first professional victory on stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse.
It marked a remarkable moment in his career having been diagnosed early with testicular cancer thanks to an anti-doping test, which allowed him to received treatment and announce he was cancer free in July 2022.
The 28-year-old dropped his last breakaway companion Roland Thalmann (Tudor) 10km from the finish up the final Gotthardpass climb after they got in the early breakaway with over 140km to go. Træen made his move with a 3:46 lead on a seemingly uninterested peloton after a small chat and refuel at the team car and looked set for victory.
However, a powerful late move from Yates saw his lead melt away and a nervous run to the line ensue. Yates showed he was more than ready for the upcoming Tour de France, powering away from a top-tier GC field inside 5km to go and just scorching his way up the 8.1km climb to finish 23 seconds down on Træen at the line.
Last year’s winner in Switzerland Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Yates’ teammate Almeida were the next best GC riders on the climb, losing 25 seconds to the Brit with Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) rounding out the top five.
Yates took firm control of the GC with a 26second- lead over both Almeida and Skjelmose. A crash earlier in the day saw Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) start to struggle inside the finale 5km of…
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