Belgian Cyclist claims Tour of Switzerland stage, Kueng in yellow

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June 11, 2017 5:21 PM

Belgian Philippe Gilbert began the summer as he finished off the spring with victory in the first stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Sunday.

Belgian cyclist Philippe Gilbert, pictured in March 2017, won a sprint finish in Cham

Belgian

Having won two one-day classics during the spring, Gilbert added a Swiss stage victory by edging a sprint finish to the 172.2km stage as Swiss Stefan Kueng took the leader's yellow jersey off Australian BMC team-mate Rohan Dennis.

New Zealand's Patrick Bevin took second ahead of Anthony Roux of France on the hilly stage that ended in Cham.

Australia's Michael Matthews is now second overall at one second off Kueng, with Giro d'Italia winner Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands third on the same time.

Dennis, who won Saturday's opening prologue, crashed 25km from the finish and was unable to chase back onto the peloton, relinquishing his lead at the finish.

Monday's second stage should favour a sprint finish again at the end of a 159.3km run to Bern.

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