‘He’s so aero I can’t even recover in his wheel’ – Meurisse on Narváez after Tour de Suisse breakaway thriller
Xandro Meurisse (Pinarello-Q36.5) joked that Jhonatan Narváez was “so aero” he could barely recover in the Ecuadorian’s wheel after the pair spent more than 100 kilometres on the attack during Stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse. Their bold move survived a frantic late chase from the peloton, but Narváez ultimately proved too fast for Meurisse in the sprint in Bad Ragaz.
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Narváez outsprinted Meurisse in Bad Ragaz after the duo escaped on the descent from the Wildhaus climb and built a lead that peaked at more than four minutes. Despite relentless chasing from the peloton on the rain-soaked run-in, the pair held on by seconds, with Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) leading the bunch home in third place.
“Well, to be honest, we made it with seven riders, and Jhonatan [Narváez] was going so fast on the descent that we started the second long climb with three, also with Kwiato [Michał Kwiatkowski],” Meurisse said after the finish to CyclingPro.net.
The duo knew they had a mission ahead of them to hold off the charging peloton, with this being the final opportunity for a bunch sprint at this year’s race. However, Narváez and Meurisse combined well with one another, sharing the workload all the way to the finishing straight.
“But we were quite fast, only with two, yeah this guy [Narváez] is so aero, that I can’t even recover in the wheel,” said Meurisse.
“So, in the end, I think we just went all in to the finish without really thinking about the result. In the last kilometre, I did one last turn, and he stayed on my wheel, and yeah, he’s [Narváez] so fast, he already showed in the Giro his shape.”
Narváez was one of the standout riders of the Giro d’Italia, winning three stages before abandoning on stage 19. While he was unable to defend his Ecuadorian Championship title last week, Narváez has carried over his form from the Giro.
Meanwhile, for Meurisse, the result was bittersweet. The Belgian had recently returned from an altitude training camp and believes his form is still improving.
“As for me, I'm just coming back from altitude, so I'm still a little bit searching for the best shape. So I think with today I need to be disappointed, but I also need to be happy.”
Meurisse praises breakaway belief
With the peloton rapidly closing in during the final 10 kilometres, Meurisse said he had to believe in the duo's chances otherwise he would have never committed to the breakaway in the first place.
“You always have to believe. That's cycling. If you don't believe in it, it's better that you go back to the bunch immediately,” said Meurisse. “We didn't talk to each other, we just went full to the finish line, and I think not one of us skipped one turn, so we understood each other very well.”
The Belgian's second-place finish follows in the footsteps of his Spanish teammate, Marcel Camprubí, who ended runner-up on the second stage. Happy to be featuring in the mix for stage wins as a Swiss team in their home race, Meurisse reflected his team’s performances so far this week.
“It would have been nice with one victory of course, but I think in the end we have to look back positively on the last two days. Tomorrow is the time trial, and then one more hard day.”
Saturday's fourth stage takes place in the shape of a 23.7km time trial around Aarburg, before the fifth and final stage, which features over 4,200m of elevation gain. Tadej Pogačar remains in control of the GC, 2:50 ahead of Richard Carapaz (EF Education-Easypost)
Result: Tour de Suisse stage 3
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