After back-to-back one-two finishes on the previous two stages, Adam Yates and João Almeida did the three-peat on stage 7 of the Tour de Suisse. The UAE Team Emirates duo once again reaffirmed their status as the two strongest riders in the race, as they dropped the rest of the GC contenders in the closing kilometres of the final climb.
The pair crossed the line together, with Yates taking the stage win and the bonus seconds to extend his lead in the general classification over Almeida. With nearly two minutes now back to Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) in third place in the standings, it is clear that these two will finish first and second overall, but with an uphill time trial still to come on the final stage, it is unclear in what order they will finish the race in.
With the Tour de France fast approaching at the end of the month, they are both looking to be in good form ahead of the Grand Départ, as they will both be riding in support of their team leader and two-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar. However, with the condition of some of the other contenders still in doubt going into the race, it could present an opportunity for the likes of Yates and Almeida to get a strong result for themselves.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Stage 7 of the Tour de Suisse started and finished in the hilltop town of Villars-sur-Ollon, with the route featuring a double ascent of a cat-1 climb to the finish, as they did two laps of a circuit around the mountain upon which the town is situated.
The riders were climbing from the start with the Col de la Croix coming just a few kilometres into the stage. The cat-2 climb provided the perfect launchpad for early attacks, with an eight-man group forming at the head of the race.
Included in that group were Maxim Van Gils and Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Dstny), Harold Martín López (Astana Qazaqstan), Finlay Pickering (Bahrain Victorious), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Johannes Staune-Mittet (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates).
Moniquet took the maximum points over the top of the climb, but the breakaway had not been allowed much of an advantage by the peloton as they went onto the descent. However, their gap did begin to go out to around two minutes in the valley road ahead of the first ascent of the final climb.
On the lower slopes of the ascent to Villars-sur-Ollon, the gap to the breakaway sat at just over a minute and a half, but as the peloton hit the climb Ineos Grenadiers came to the fore in the main group and began to control the gap to those at the front.
Van Gils took the maximum points over the top of the climb and as they went through the first passage of the finish line in the town of Villars-sur-Ollon, a couple of the breakaway riders began to test their legs with a couple of small attacks.
Christen was the first to try with Paret-Peintre marking the move, but they were swiftly brought back. Staune-Mittet then launched an attack of his own, which nobody attempted to follow and he quickly formed an advantage on those behind.
The peloton had gradually begun to close the gap to the rest of the breakaway as they began the second ascent of the Col de la Croix and the group started to fracture with some of them attacking in an attempt to stay clear.
López and Moniquet were the first to be caught by the peloton and it was not long before the rest of the breakaway had been caught, leaving Staune-Mittet as the sole leader at the head of the race.
He took the maximum points over the top of the climb and the Norwegian’s gap went back up to well over a minute on the descent, as the pace in the peloton eased, which allowed some riders who had been distanced to get themselves back into the main group.
With UAE Team Emirates coming to join Ineos Grenadiers at the front of the peloton, Staune-Mittet’s gap gradually began to be whittled down. He took maximum points at the intermediate sprint and with 10km to go his gap had been reduced to around a minute.
Onto the final climb to the finish, Staune-Mittet held on for as long as he could to take the Tissot KM sprint before being caught by Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who had launched an attack from the peloton in search of the stage win.
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) then made the first move from the GC contenders in the peloton, with Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) and the overall leader Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) on his wheel.
Kelderman and Riccitello were then dropped as they caught and passed Gall, leaving the UAE Team Emirates duo of Almeida and Yates alone at the head of the race.
Going into the final few hundred metres, the two teammates decided not to sprint for the finish and they rode across the line together, with Yates taking his second stage win of the race. This marked their third one-two finish in a row and they are now firmly first and second in the overall standings going into the time trial on the final stage.
Behind them, Riccitello held off Kelderman to take third place ahead of a group of other GC contenders, containing Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Oscar Onley (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers).
RESULTS: TOUR DE SUISSE 2024, STAGE SEVEN, VILLARS-SUR-OLLON › VILLARS-SUR-OLLON (118KM)
1. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates, 3:05:41
2. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at same time
3. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +14s
4. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +16s
5. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek
6. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
7. Oscar Onley (GBr) dsm-firmenich PostNL
8. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time
9. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, +32s
10. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, +35s
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE SEVEN
1. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates, 19:45:17
2. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +31s
3. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:51
4. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +2:50
5. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +3:02
6. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, +3:23
7. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +3:54
8. Oscar Onley (GBr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +4:03
9. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, +4:41
10. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +4:59
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