The Tour de Suisse, June 6 to 13, will be the last opportunity for the classification stars to shine ahead of the Tour de France. So who are the favorites for the eight-day Swiss race, the cyclists we could see fighting also for the Tour victory a month later?

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A lot will depend on the two time trials, especially the second one on the penultimate day. That time trial climbs to 2043 meters before descending to the finish. The next day, the final day, climbs the Sustenpass at 2238 meters and descends for the final 5.6km summit finish to Andermatt.

Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation)

Canadian Michael Woods has a golden opportunity to take this race win after his success in another Swiss stage race, the Tour de Romandie. In Romandie he had just arrived from his good ride in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He won the big mountain stage ahead of Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) and the next day, in the final time trial stage, he slipped from first to to fifth overall.

Woods has since taken a break to prepare at altitude in Andorra for the Tour de France. The Tour de Suisse should suit him well with so many of the stages being climbing stages. Even the time trial is a big climbing stage, so this should allow Woods to lose little time, if any at all, and stay in contention to ride away for the final race victory at the end of stage eight. From here, he takes aim at the Tour de France, likely being the leader with Chris Froome and Dan Martin.

Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe)

Every year, Max Schachmann is developing into a classification rider. He is now at the point to be ready to win a big race like the Tour de Suisse. The proof is there with Paris-Nice earlier this year when he swooped in for the race win when Primoz Roglic crashed and cracked in the final stage. Winning the final yellow jersey backed up what he had done in 2020 in the same race.

With these wins, Schachmann and the team are becoming more confident in what they can do in the bigger stage races. In Suisse, 'The Schach' will be returning to action after last racing in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Bora-Hansgrohe should give him complete control of its team over the eight stages and allow him a chance at his biggest stage race win yet. From Suisse, he is not due to race the Tour de France with the team focused on Lennard Kämna and Wilco Kelderman, but that could change depending on how the week unfolds.

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech)

Dane Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech) has the chops to dominate the Tour de Suisse. He last raced in 2018 when he placed second overall to [Richie Porte]. Since, he has been going to the Critérium du Dauphiné, a race he has conquered two times already in 2019 and 2017.

Fuglsang will be backed by Astana-Premier Tech in his bid. The team will then rely on him in the Tour de France, where last year it backed [Miguel Angel López], now with Movistar, and sent Fuglsang to the Giro d'Italia. what makes Fuglsang so lethal in these finishes races is that he has the experience over other top riders like Schachmann and Woods and a monster kick still at the age of 36. he showed that last year when he won Il Lombardia.