France’s Thibaut Pinot climbed to victory in the hilly seventh stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Saturday with Colombian Sergio Higuita taking the race lead going into the final day’s racing. Pinot, riding for Groupama-FDJ, crossed the line alone at the summit of Malbrun in Liechtenstein after the 195km mountainous ride from Ambri in Switzerland. It was the second stage win this season for Pinot, who crossed the line ahead of Spaniard Oscar Rodriguez and Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko, after his success in the fifth stage of the Tour of the Alps in April. Bora rider Higuita crossed in fourth to pull on the leader’s yellow jersey heading into Sunday’s final stage time-trial, at the expense of Dane Jakob Fuglsang who arrived in seventh position.

Pinot was among a group of fourteen breakaway riders which formed at the start of the stage which built up an eight-minute lead on the peloton.

Still in the lead before the ascent of the Malbun, a 12.4km climb with an average 8.4 percent gradient, the group dwindled with two riders, Astana’s Lutsenko and Cofidis’ Ion Izaguirre, pursued by Pinot. The 32-year-old Frenchman finally joined the pair and accelerated to seal victory. The coronavirus-hit race which has seen a whole swathe of riders drop out ends with a 25.6km time-trial in Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein.

TOUR DE SUISSE 2022 STAGE 7 RESULTS

1	PINOT Thibaut	Groupama – FDJ	5:06:39
2	RODRÍGUEZ Óscar	Movistar Team	0:25
3	LUTSENKO Alexey	Astana Qazaqstan Team	0:38
4	HIGUITA Sergio	BORA – hansgrohe	1:19
5	THOMAS Geraint	INEOS Grenadiers	1:30
6	PRODHOMME Nicolas	AG2R Citroën Team	1:40
7	FUGLSANG Jakob	Israel – Premier Tech	1:48
8	POZZOVIVO Domenico	Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux	1:59
9	REICHENBACH Sébastien	Groupama – FDJ	2:09
10	POWLESS Neilson	EF Education-EasyPost	2:19

TOUR DE SUISSE 2022 STANDINGS

1	HIGUITA Sergio	BORA – hansgrohe	32:38:38
2	THOMAS Geraint	INEOS Grenadiers	0:02
3	FUGLSANG Jakob	Israel – Premier Tech	0:19
4	POWLESS Neilson	EF Education-EasyPost	1:16
5	POZZOVIVO Domenico	Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux	1:37
6	REICHENBACH Sébastien	Groupama – FDJ	2:09
7	KÜNG Stefan	Groupama – FDJ	2:19
8	JUNGELS Bob	AG2R Citroën Team	2:31
9	GROßSCHARTNER Felix	BORA – hansgrohe	2:47
10	LEKNESSUND Andreas	Team DSM	2:59

RBA/AFP Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency