Thomas De Gendt took an impressive win on stage seven of the Tour de Suisse after attacking his breakaway partners on the final climb.
The Vacansoleil rider held on over the Fisser-Hofe to win by 35 seconds over Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) on the final day in the mountains.
Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) rounded out the podium places after a dangerous breakaway was allowed to stay clear as the main peloton fractured over difficult terrain.
A group of 16 escapees broke free after 80km and a plucky ride from Schleck saw the climber bridge across to bolster the effort.
The group, including the likes of George Hincapie (BMC), Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo) and Jan Bakelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto), built up a lead of close to eight minutes to ensure the stage win was up for grabs.
Schleck looked motivated after a low-key start to the race and soaked up the mountain points over the imposing Flüelapass and moved into the lead of the mountains classification after second place on the line.
Race leader Damiano Cunego was left exposed in an elite group of favourites but seemed content to sit back as other riders shouldered the workload in dragging back the break.
A canny ride from the Lampre rider meant Cunego maintained his 1:23 lead with relative ease at the top of the standings over Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) going into Saturday’s penultimate stage.
Mountain conquerors
After an initial breakaway attempt had failed the leaders appeared content to let a group finally move clear
De Gendt wasted no time in attacking out of the group in the closing stages and quickly built up a lead of over a minute.
With 8.5km remaining Schleck gave chase and quickly cut down the Dutchman’s lead but in the end was forced to settle for second place.
Attacks came simultaneously in both the breakaway and the lead bunch but no further moves were allowed to stick with Cunego leading home the favourites to ensure his tenure in the yellow jersey continued.
