Alberto Pettiol on Monday thought he had won the second stage of the Tour of Switzerland. The Italian crossed the finish line a second fan, not knowing that Norwegian Adrias Liknesund had won the stage due to a lack of communication.
Petitol beat Michael Matthews and Matthew Trentin, among others, in the sprint, but had to deal with a huge disappointment after a few minutes. After the finish, the other riders pointed out to Tuscany that it wasn’t him, but Leknessund had won.
The 23-year-old left Leknessund with nine fellow refugees on a flight from Küsnacht to Aesch after the fast-opening stage. The Team DSM rider attacked at the foot of the Challpass, the third and final climb of the stage. He advanced by more than a minute and a half and did not threaten victory.
The situation was very similar to the women’s final at the Olympic Games in 2021, in which Anna Kissenhofer surprised Annemik van Vleuten and Anna van der Bregen. At the time, the Austrian attacked from the start of the race and crossed the finish line at Fuji solo.
Andreas Liknesund scored the biggest win of his career.
Andreas Liknesund scored the biggest win of his career.
picture: Getty Images
Williams retains the captain’s jersey
“I don’t know what happened. My radio was off and I was concentrating on running,” said Petitol, who received the disappointing news from fellow countryman Matthew Trentin. “They’re going to make some jokes about it today and tomorrow, but that’s part of the course.”
Leknessund is the second stage winner after Stephen Williams in this edition of the Tour of Switzerland. Williams retained the leader’s jersey and is still four seconds ahead of nearest striker Maximilian Schachmann in the general classification.
The Tour of Switzerland, along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, which concluded on Sunday, is the most important race in preparation for the Tour de France, which begins on July 1. Tuesday’s WorldTour race continues with a transition to Grenchen and runs through Sunday.
App users: click the tweet above to view Alberto Petitol’s painful error.
