Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) has won the seventh stage of the 2012 Tour de Suisse.
The Swedish rider finished two seconds ahead of Olympic champion and 2009 Tour de Suisse winner, Fabian Cancellara.
Cancellara’s RadioShack-Nissan-Trek teammate, Maxime Monfort, finished third.
Dimitri Sedoun, directeur sportif of Astana, said the quality of the opposition made Kessiakoff’s victory more impressive.
“Kessiakoff has got a phenomenal win here, especially considering he beat Cancellara, a four-time World Time Trial Champion and the top-ranked specialist in the world. Roman fought for the entire 34 km and has got himself a spot in the GC,” he said.
Sedoun said tomorrow’s mountainous 148km eighth stage from Bischofszell TG to Arosa would be unlikely to alter positions among the GC leaders, and predicted that Sunday’s final stage into Sörenberg would settle matters.
Cancellara said he had wanted to ride a steady time trial “from the beginning to the end,” and had enjoyed the time on his bike.
“Every time trial is important but I have to look at the circumstances. Here this is the first time trial since Bayern and that was the first since the crash, so each time I am evaluating my condition compared to the time before. That’s important to me. I need to see growth each time and that’s the victory for me.”
“There were tons of Swiss flags and people supporting me after my crash. That’s nice to see,” he said.
Race leader, Rui Costa (Movistar), bolstered his chances of holding on to the yellow jersey in the final two stages when the rising road will place him back on his chosen terrain.
He rode to eighth place in the time trial; an impressive performance for a man not known for his time trialing abilities.
Tour de Suisse stage seven – result
1) Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE) – Astana – 46:36
2) Fabian Cancellara (SWI) – RadioShack-Nissan-Trek +2”
3) Maxime Monfort (BEL) – RadioShack-Nissan-Trek +20”
4) Jérémy Roy (FRA) – FDJ-Big Mat +25”
5) Robert Gesink (NED) – Rabobank +27”
6) Tanel Kangert (EST) – Astana +34”
7) Andreas Klöden (GER) – RadioShack-Nissan-Trek +38”
8) Rui Costa (POR) – Movistar + 41”
9) Peter Velits (SVK) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep +43”
10) Brent Bookwalter (USA) – BMC Racing +51”
General classification
1) Rui Costa (POR) – Movistar – 26.10.55
2) Roman Kreuziger (CZE) – Astana +50”
3) Robert Gesink (NED) – Rabobank +55”
4) Alejandro Valverde (SPA) – Movistar +1.04
5) Frank Schleck (LUX) – RadioShack-Nissan-Trek
6) Thomas Danielson (USA) – Garmin-Barracuda +1:12
7) Levi Leipheimer (USA) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep +1.15
8) Vladimir Gusev (RUS) – Katusha +1.17
9) Thomas Löfkvist (SWE) – Team Sky +1:22
10) Steven Kruijswijk (NED) – Rabobank +1.27
