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Tour de Suisse
| Race details |
| Date |
June |
| Region |
Switzerland |
| English name |
Tour of Switzerland |
| Local name(s) |
Tour de Suisse (French) |
| Discipline |
Road race |
| Competition |
UCI ProTour |
| Type |
Stage race |
| Race director |
Christian Pirzer |
| History |
| First edition |
1933 |
| Editions |
71 (as of 2007) |
| First winner |
 Max Bulla |
| Most wins |
 Pasquale Fornara (4 wins) |
| Most recent |
 Vladimir Karpets |
The Tour de Suisse (English: Tour of Switzerland) is a UCI ProTour stage race held annually in June. The race debuted in 1933 and has evolved in timing, duration and sponsorship since then. Along with the Dauphiné Libéré, it is seen as a warm-up and proving ground to the longer Tour de France, which is held every year in July. Like the Tour de France and the Dauphiné Libéré, the Tour de Suisse offers grueling mountain climbs and at least one individual time trial, the type of stages that often determine the winner of the general classification in the Tour de France. Several recent winners of the Tour de France have also won the Tour de Suisse, including Eddy Merckx, Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich. In 2005 the organizers moved the race to an earlier date in June, perhaps to make it more attractive as an alternative to the Dauphiné Libéré.
[edit] Past winners
[edit] External links
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