SOELDEN, Austria — Thibaut Pinot of France rode solo to a stage win in the Austrian mountains and took the leader’s yellow jersey in the Tour de Suisse on Wednesday.
Pinot went clear with two kilometres (1.2 miles) left of a grueling 237.3-kilometre (147.5-mile) fifth stage to Soelden ski resort.
The FDJ rider has a 47-second lead overall from Britain’s Geraint Thomas, who placed fifth Wednesday and is favoured by the closing time trial stage on Sunday.
Domenico Pozzovivo of Italy was second on the stage, 34 seconds behind Pinot’s time of 6 hours, 22 minutes, 47 seconds.
Simon Spilak of Slovenia was third and is third overall with 50 seconds to make up on Pinot.
After leading the race since Saturday’s prologue, Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands dropped to seventh, 1:32 back.