Tadej Pogacar is back. In his own way, with a breakaway from far out, a full 70 km, that shook things up. The world champion put a stunning seal on the first stage of the Tour de Suisse, the Sondrio - Sondrio of 144 km. Significant gaps for his rivals, especially given the relatively short stage: second place for Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) at 2'14", third for Andrea Bagioli (Lidl Trek) who was racing at home at 2'29", with the others even further back.

Victory number 118 in the career of the world champion, his tenth in this yet another fantastic season.

THE RACE. A historic and special start for the 89th edition of the Tour de Suisse which for the first time kicked off from Italy. The first of the five stages on the program was described as a sort of classic with a completely unpredictable outcome. After the first 55 km that were almost flat, the climbs of Buglio in Monte, Triangia, Ponte di Valtellina and the short kick of Bordighia less than 5 km from the finish were tackled.

The early part of the race was characterized by the attack of Cedric Beullens (Lotto Intermarchè) and Fredrik Dversnes Lavik (Uno X Mobility) who broke away from the group after 10 km of racing. The two breakaway riders managed to build a maximum advantage of 2'30".

The race heated up already on the first climb of the day where the UAE XRG team gave a strong acceleration in the group which began to lose riders and visibly close the gap to the two attackers. Up front, Dversnes Lavik forced the pace and remained alone in the lead. It was not long before Tadej Pogacar himself made his move and caught up with the Norwegian at the front. 70 km from the finish, the Slovenian's solo ride began and he quickly became unstoppable.

FINISHING ORDER

1. Pogacar Tadej (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in 03:28:51
2. Carapaz Richard (EF Education-EasyPost) + 02:14
3. Bagioli Andrea (Lidl-Trek) + 02:29
4. Van Wilder Ilan (Soudal Quick-Step) + 04:02
5. Vacek Mathias (Lidl-Trek)
6. McNulty Brandon (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
7. Kelderman Wilco (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)
8. Großschartner Felix (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 04:05
9. August AJ (Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team) + 04:30
10. Narvaez Jhonatan (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)