'I don't win often so this is really nice' - GB's Oscar Onley wins Tour de Suisse stage 5 as Kévin Vaquelin takes race lead

Oscar Onley pipped João Almeida on the line at the end of the Tour de Suisse's queen stage, stage five, to take his second WorldTour victory on Thursday.

The British Picnic PostNL rider surged off the front of the group of favourites with just over 3.1km to go, and was later joined by UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Almeida, but the Portuguese rider could not shake his rival. It came down to a sprint in the closing metres, which was opened up and then won by Onley.

Meanwhile, Roman Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) gave up the race lead to his compatriot, Kévin Vaquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), as the Frenchman defended well enough from Almeida to take over the yellow jersey. Just 39 seconds separate the pair.

Grégoire was distanced on the final two ascents of the Castaneda climb, while Vaquelin hung in the group of favourites for long enough to be able to challenge overall. With three stages to go, the race could come down to the final day uphill time trial.

Onley followed an attack by Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) with 4.2km to go, and then continued once he had dropped the Frenchman. He now sits in fourth overall, 1:21 behind Vaquelin, after he lost over three minutes to him on a tough opening day.

"I knew I was in good shape and I was feeling good this week but with Almeida here, he’s been really strong this week so far, and it wasn’t even guaranteed that the win would come from the bunch," Onley said on TNT Sports post-stage. "[And] with a strong break in front, and not the strongest teams behind to chase. I felt good all day, and I just gave it a go on the last climb.

"I don’t win often, and I’ve had quite a few podiums so far this year or quite close results, so to pull it off today is really nice for myself and for the team," he continued. "My teammates, they do a really good job every day. Today was no different, so it's nice to be able to pay them back now and again.

"I haven’t looked at the GC yet, I don’t even know where I am, but quite a few of us lost time on that first stage, so I was quite disappointed after that. Warren [Barguil], one of my teammates, and also the coaching staff, were really supportive of me, and said how long and hard the week was. This win makes such a big difference by Sunday. To think like that is quite hard at the time, but I keep trying to chip away every day."

How it happened

The hardest stage of the Tour de Suisse, with a scheduled 3887 metres of climbing across 183.8km, began with an ascent of the Julierpass, the highest point of this year’s race at 2279m above sea level. The stage was pre-empted with the unveiling of a memorial to Gino Mäder, who died after a crash at this race two years ago.

A flurry of attacks began the day, with Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Javier Romo (Movistar) among the early escapees. A group of 12 was initially established, which has been shredded down to five by the top of the Julierpass: Romo, Bilbao, Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana). Vlasov was the first over the top of the climb, taking 12 points as he did so.

The gap rarely ballooned throughout the day, being kept in check by the peloton, but did approach four minutes at times.

The second climb of the day was the San Bernardino Pass - 7.5km at 6% - which was crested once again by Vlasov, putting him in the virtual lead of the mountains classification.

On the descent from San Bernardino speeds reached well over 90km/h, showing the pace in the peloton as they sought to recover the gap to the break, which increasingly fell in the second half of the stage. UAE Team Emirates-XRG were at the front of the bunch.

On the next climb, Castaneda, which was both the penultimate and final effort, being tackled twice, the gap between the group of favourites and the break continued to fall. Romo and Fortunato both were dropped with 25km to go, as the leading trio continued to surge. However, the gap was now below 25 seconds as they approached the top of Castaneda for the first time. Powless was the next to fall, with Bilbao and Vlasov left alone out front, but he managed to recover for the time being as the race descended from Castaneda to climb it again.

At the same time, in the group of favourites, the race leader, Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) was dropped, shipping a minute and a half by the time they reached the top of Castaneda.

The group of favourites was left with stage four winner João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Kévin Vaquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), Matthew Riccitello (IPT), and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling). On the descent, with 18km to go, they trailed Vlasov, Powless Bilbao by just under 20 seconds.

In the valley between the two final ascents of Castaneda, the group of favourites swelled to 19 riders, with Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) and Lennard Kämna (Lidl-Trek) among those to rejoin.

With 8.4km to go, the group of favourites became the leading group on the road, with Grégoire over a minute behind. With 5.6km to go, O’Connor once again was dropped on the climb of Castaneda, along with Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana).

Alaphilippe attacked with 4km to go, joined by Onley, who continued to press on, followed by Gall, Vaquelin, Ricitello and Almeida. The attack did not create a huge gap, but Onley continued alone with 3.1km to go, stalked by Almeida.

While Vaquelin could not follow, he was set to take over the race lead, given he had a minute and a half over Almeida at the start of the day. With 2.5km to go, 600m to the top of the climb, Onley led, followed by Almeida and then Gall; 200m later, Onley was joined by the Portuguese rider, who accelerated again.

Into the final kilometre, the lead of the race still consisted of Onley and Almeida, chased by Gall 16 seconds behind, and Vaquelin a further 30 seconds back.

Onley opened up his sprint first, and despite a valiant effort from Almeida and a bike throw on the line, the latter could not round the former, with the British rider taking his first win of 2025. Vaquelin, meanwhile, defended well enough to take the race lead.

Results

Tour de Suisse 2025, stage five: La Punt > Santa Maria in Calanca (183.8km)

1. Oscar Onley (GBr) Picnic PostNL, in 4:33:28
2. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, at same time
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +23s
4. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +57s
5. Matthew Ricitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:05
6. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Soudal-Quick Step, +1:14
7. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +1:22
8. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Lidl-Trek, +1:45
9. Felix Großchartner (Ger) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:25
10. George Bennett (NZl) Israel-Premier-Tech, +2:38

General classification

1. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkea-B&B Hotels, in 20:12:10
2. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +29s
3. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +39s
4. Oscar Onley (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +1:21
5. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Lidl-Trek, +1:44
6. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +2:16
7. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +2:20
8. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar Team, +2:40
9. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +3:08
10. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +3:17