Rui Costa gave a defiant signal of his intention to retain his Tour de Suisse crown by winning the Queen stage of the 2013 race.
The Portugese, a member of the wildly successful Movistar squad, led through the snow capped peaks of the haute categorie Albulapass, and sprinted to victory in La Punt.
By oustsprinting his accomplished companions in the breakaway – stage two winner, Bauke Mollema, and GC contender, Tejay van Garderen – Costa showed his ability to beat the best in the race.
He is taking nothing for granted, however, and named a host of contenders, including current race leader, Mathias Frank, among those who could challenge in Sunday’s race-closing time trial.
Official UCI WorldTour photographer, Stefano Sirotti, our man in the mountains of the Giro d’Italia, braved yet more Alpine snow to send these pictures.
