Tadej Pogačar narrowly missed a second stage win at the Tour de Suisse on Thursday amid concern for his partner Urška Žigart who had a heavy crash on the women's race.

Four time Tour de France champion Pogačar played catch-up in the 157.7 kilometres second stage around the city of Locarno but missed first place by a mere four seconds as Frenchman Romain Gregoire won from a six-strong escape group.

The group had led by around two minutes before Pogačar fought back on the final two category three climbs.

Pogačar had won the first stage with a big advantage on Wednesday and retained the overall lead 2 minutes 50 seconds ahead of Olympic champion and former Giro d'Italia winner Richard Carapaz of Ecuador.

Žigart had earlier crashed around one kilometre from the finish when she fell on a hump and broke her jaw, according to her team.

The 89th edition of the Tour de Suisse takes place over five instead of previously eight stages. It concludes on Sunday with a gruelling mountain stage where riders have to cross the Col de la Croix three times.

It is a tune-up for the the Tour de France starts on July 4 in Barcelona and runs until July 26.