After a fierce battle to form the breakaway, eight riders, including Gloag, managed to go clear after 90 kilometres. The group built a solid advantage, with the young Brit showing his strength on the climbs. However, it soon became clear that the move would not succeed, as the reduced peloton was closing in quickly on the slopes of the Splügenpass.

The pace then intensified on the day's decisive climb. Lemmen once again demonstrated strong legs and managed to stay with the favourites for a long time, but eventually had to concede to the top contenders for the overall victory. João Almeida proved to be the strongest after a long solo effort. Lemmen finished in 17th place.

“The plan today was to get into the early breakaway,” team director Maarten Wynants reflected. “That wasn’t easy, but in the end a strong group formed with Tom in it. Unfortunately, they were not given much space by the peloton, even though Tom looked strong uphill. We also aimed to keep Bart well-positioned in the GC, but unfortunately that didn’t work out.”

Tomorrow the Tour de Suisse features the queen stage, with a brutal finale in store. “Tomorrow will be a very tough day, but we’ll see what’s possible. Hopefully we can get into the break again and go for the stage win from there. The general classification is likely out of reach now, but we’ll do everything we can to take a stage victory before the end of the race,” Wynants concluded.