Suisse: The Real "King of the Mountains"

Robert Gesink was probably not the most powerful man in the field, nor the most aggressive or hardest working, but he was for sure the smartest. Gesink stayed on someone else's wheel for most of the grueling final climb, and then broke away from everyone right at the end of the climb and cruised his way to a stage victory and the overall lead. Gesink rode strongly in the dwindling main field while Brice Feillu set the pace by himself. Gesink then jumped onto a chasing breakaway started by Andy Schleck that also contained strong riders like Matteo Carrara and Roman Kreuzinger. Gesink then went again on Schleck's wheel when the two of them caught Feillu and the rest of the remaining breakaway. He stayed right behind Schleck through most of the climb, and just when he saw Schleck begin to tire, put on a massive attack and left everyone in the dust. It was all downhill from there as he cruised to a stage win but also kept the pressure on in order to extend his lead in the overall GC. It was also an incredible ride from Lance Armstrong, who not only stayed with the rigorous 8 man chase group but did a lot of the pacemaking. Lance is showing that he is surely getting in good form for the Tour de France, in the hope of defying all odds and winning his 8th tour. That is a long way off, however, and I'm sure he is quite pleased with his effort so far in Switzerland. Gesink's success also puts some questions into his Rabobank squad, and with favorite Menchov not looking his best, the team could possibly turn their majority of support to Gesink for the Tour de France. It was a rough day for Tony Martin, who lost a few minutes but did recover nicely on the final descent. Cancellara was not so fortunate, losing over 22 minutes and surely burying himself out of contention for this year's race in his home country. Though today's stage was the most grueling and prestigious, tomorrow's stage can also be a good time for the climbers to try to put some more ground on the TT riders.

TT riders like Martin are not out of the race yet, but will need to keep up tomorrow and Saturday with the climbers in order to stay in contention. Now that things are spread out a bit, more individualized attacks will come from riders looking to advance their position.

CLASSIFICATIONS AFTER STAGE 6

OVERALL

1. Robert Gesink

2. Rigoberto Uran -29

3. Steve Morabito -36

4. Frank Schleck -38

5. Joaquin Rodriguez -42

6. Matteo Carrara -54

7. Lance Armstrong -55

8. Oliver Zaugg -1:01

9. Jakob Fuglsang -1:17

10. Thomas Lovkvist -1:38

11. Andy Schleck -1:40

12. Andreas Kloden -1:48

13. Levi Leipheimer -2:18

14. Tony Martin -2:19

15. Roman Kreuzinger -2:24

MOUNTAINS

1. Wouter Poels 40

2. Mathias Frank 38

3. Robert Gesink 21

POINTS
1. Marco Marcato 42

2. Jose Joaquin Rojas 30

3. Marcus Burghardt 25

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Team Saxo Bank

2. Team Radioshack -2:10

3. Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team -13:07