81st edition of WorldTour race to start in Cham with Schaffhausen to host final weekend
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Jon Izaguirre, Miguel Angel Lopez and Warren Barguil on the final Tour de Suisse podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Beautiful scenery at the Tour de Suisse stage 6(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The peloton makes it's way from Schaffhausen to Weinfelden for stage 1(Image credit: Christine Grein)
Tour de Suisse stage 8 from Bern to Bern(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The peloton climbs into the snow line climbs during stage 5 at Tour de Suisse (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The 81st edition of the Tour de Suisse will start with two stages in Cham before taking an anti-clockwise route across the country with a weekend of stages in Schaffhausen to bring the curtain down on the 2017 event. The full race route and details of the two Schaffhausen stages will be announced in March ahead of the June 10-17 race.
First held in 1933, the Tour de Suisse has been included in the WorldTour since 2011 and become a key warm up race for the Tour de France.
The Tour de Suisse last visited Schaffhausen six years ago in 2011 with Peter Sagan winning the road stage and Fabian Cancellara the final day time trial.
"We are very pleased that the Tour de Suisse 2017 will be putting its final weekend on the roads of Schaffhausen," said Cantonal Councillor and Sports Minister Christian Amsler. "The Canton of Schaffhausen wants to show itself as a sports loving, liveable region on the Rhine, with a high quality of life for families in a natural environment and within close proximity to the economic area of Zurich."
The stage start and finish will take place near the newly opened LIPO Park Schaffhausen football stadium and under the watchful eye of the Munot Fortress.
While the Schaffhausen stages are yet to be confirmed, although one will be a circuit race, the race will start with a time trial in Cham. The city then hosts stage 2, expected to finish in a sprint, before moving onto stage 3 from Menziken to Bern which is also set to be decided in a bunch sprint.
Stage 4 is the first for the climbers in the 2017 Tour de Suisse with the riders to start in Bern and finish at Villars-sur-Ollon for the first finish of new multi-year deal signed between race organisers InfrontRingier and the tourist region. A hilly stage follows with a start in the town of Bex and finishes in Cevio after a brief foray into Northern Italy.
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Two mountain stages finishes first at La Punt, and then above the Rettenbach Glacier in Sölden will see be crucial in deciding the overall winner of the race. The final weekend in Schaffhausen will bring the race to a close.
The 2016 edition of the race was won by Astana's Maxi Lopez while Peter Sagan holds the records for most career stage wins with 13.
