Who is he? And how did he do it?

These were the questions being asked over and over again in at the finish line in Schwarzsee Saturday, after a complete unknown from Unibet escaped a ravenous bunch in the final kilometer to win the eighth stage of the Tour de Suisse.

His name's Uran — Rigoberto Uran. He's from Colombia, and barely 20 years old. As a junior, he was four-time junior national champion, three times on the track and once on the road. Since turning professional for Italian team Tenax Salmilano two years ago, before switching to Unibet this year, he had no results to speak of. And he doesn't say much, either.

But just as all breakaways before him had been caught and the stage seemed destined for a bunch finish, this petite man took off 800 meters from the finish, leaving the 50-some-odd riders to watch his rear wheel fading into the distance.

"I had to try something today, because tomorrow I will be somewhere, though not at the top," said Uran. "I also had great help from my teammates before that moment, but it was also a question of instinct."

Uran repeatedly pointed to his primary sponsor on the chest of his jersey as he crossed the line, and the Colombian was asked if it was a response to the ongoing problems that have plagued his team, which become a pawn in the power struggle between the UCI and the grand tour organizers.

"Well, it's a big team with good riders, so of course I have regrets about the situation," was all he would say.

Cofidis's Christian Moreni was only two seconds slower, followed by Astana's Andreas Klöden, who led the bunch home. In the pack were maillot jaune Vladimir Efimkin and the rest of the race favorites. After the finish, our Russian race leader said he was very happy with the way things turned out, and knows it’s all up to him in Sunday's race of truth around Bern.

"It was good stage today, I'm very happy with the way things turned out," said Efimkin. "It was a difficult stage, but the race went as we expected."

Asked how much time he believes he would need to guarantee overall victory, Efimkin gave a wry smile before answering: "It doesn't matter. I'm going to be absolutely finished by the end! I'll try my best and believe I can do well, but if I don't succeed, then I hope my teammate [Vladimir] Karpets can win [overall] - he's a very strong rider."

Besides Karpets, Efimkin described Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck as the most dangerous. "But I will say now that they will have to go very fast to take the victory away from me," he warned.

"It's very special to have this leader's jersey on my shoulders. In my family, we've already tasted overall success this year, with my brother [Alexander] winning the Giro del Capo and Settimana Ciclista Lombarda. And two years ago in the Tour of Portugal, there was a similar length time trial, where I finished third before winning the race overall, so I have experience."

A scenic menu du jour
Smothered by the warm early afternoon sun, the 141 remaining riders began the penultimate stage in good spirits, leaving Innertkirchen shortly after half-past one Saturday. The picturesque surroundings would be in stark contrast to that of Friday's Alpine feast, with Saturday's parcours hugging the famous Swiss lakes of the Brienxersee and Thunersee along its 152.5 kilometer route.

Attacks were many and straight away, with riders from Quick Step-Innergetic particularly frisky over the first 60km. Carlos Barredo, Bram Tankink and Hubert Schwab all tried their luck, but without success. The speed of the peloton was so fast, in fact, that they were traveling 20 minutes ahead of the fastest schedule.

Finally, after roughly 70km, a group of 11 left the bunch's grasp — Carlos Sastre (Team CSC), Michael Albasini (Liquigas), Matthew White (Discovery Channel), Gianni Meersman (Discovery Channel), Jurgen van Goolen (Discovery Channel), Daniel Navarro Garcia (Astana), Fred Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto), Alessandro Ballan (Lampre-Fondital), Yannick Talabardon (CrÈdit Agricole), Enrico Poitschke (Team Milram) and Florian Stalder (Volksbank).

Not surprisingly, as Discovery was holding the numbers with three men in the escape, the American team was doing much of the driving to make it stick. They didn't have to try too hard, though; with Sastre the best-placed GC rider in the move, 7:22 down on Efimkin, it was another perfect scenario for Caisse d'Epargne. Fifty kilometers from the finish, the 11 were two minutes in front of the groupe maillot jaune, both groups seemingly content to leave it this way.

With 30km remaining, the first attacks (which were more like nudges) began, although most likely, the breakaway riders knew if one of them was to win, the final two climbs would sort that out. Predictably, on the Cat. 4 to Weissenstein, Sastre and Ballan went away, and 20km from the finish, the pair enjoyed a half-minute advantage over their previous companions and 1:27 over the groupe maillot jaune.

Three kilometers later, Sastre, by far the superior climber, did what everyone expected, his tempo too cruel for the winner of this year's Tour of Flanders champion, who prefers the shorter bergs of Belgium.

Still, victory for Sastre was by no means assured, as there was almost 10km of undulating terrain before the final climb to Rohr, and a group of five was in hot pursuit, a half-minute behind. Thanks to the work of Caisse d'Epargne, the peloton was closing in, too, now under a minute in arrears.

The groupe maillot jaune were absolutely flying over these final kilometers, retrieving the quintet ahead of them and, 7km from the line, catching Sastre. As soon as the regrouping occurred, Quick Step's Alessandro Proni had a dig, but he was caught a kilometer later. That's when Predictor-Lotto's Chris Horner decided it was the time to go.

Four kilometers from home, the American suffered the same fate as those who tried before him, and quite incredibly, we appeared destined for a bunch finish. But Uran the Unknown had other ideas, launching the perfect move with 800 meters to go and holding off a surprisingly large bunch by two seconds, led by Moreni and Klˆden.

The road ahead
Sunday's 33.7km time trial in Bern ensures a nail-biting finish to this year's Tour of Switzerland. Five riders are capable of winning arguably the fourth biggest cycling race in the world, and by 5 p.m. Central European Time tomorrow, we'll all know his name.

It's not an overly difficult parcours, with two distinct rises along its route, but there's enough up-and-down to make it a worthy test, and equally, to find such a winner.

"It should suit me," said Efimkin, "but we have to see how my legs respond; the type of time trial is one thing, but the legs are the other thing."