João Almeida enjoyed a double success on the final day of the Tour de Suisse, his victory in the 10.1km mountain time trial on the Stockhütte enabling him to secure the overall title ahead of Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley.
UAE Team Emirates XRG leader Almeida started the TT with a 33-second deficit on his Arkéa-B&B Hotels rival Vauquelin, but had wiped out most of that gap by the intermediate checkpoint at the 4.5km mark. The Portuguese passed the flagging Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) soon after and went on to cross the line in a time of 27:33, 24 seconds quicker than Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).
While Frenchman Vauquelin rode bravely to finish fourth in the TT and secure second overall, by far his best finish in the WorldTour stage race, British youngster Oscar Onley took third on the stage to move up one place and take the third spot on the podium as Alaphilippe tumbled down the GC standings into fifth.
Almeida’s final day success completed a remarkable reverse in his fortunes. Like most of the other GC leaders, including Onley and Gall, he lost more than three minutes on the opening day after a group that was almost 30-strong went away from the peloton.
The Portuguese initially suggested his GC hopes had gone on day one, but had gradually worked his way back into contention. He took a solo victory on the first big mountain stage to Piuro on day four, which left him two minutes behind then leader Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ).
He regained more time when he lost out to Onley in a two-up sprint on the Santa Maria summit finish the next day when Vauquelin took the lead. Almeida then avenged that defeat to the Scot on stage seven, which edged him still nearer to the Frenchman. Victory in the Stockhütte TT completed the comeback.
Speaking to CyclingProNet after his double success had been confirmed, Almeida said: “It was a long way to go, one mistake can cost you a lot, but luckily we could make up for it. I’m super happy. I did a really good climb. For a few moments I thought my power meter wasn’t calibrated because it was showing high numbers.”
Almeida said that his UAE team had been focused on getting back into the GC battle since the disappointment of day one. “We did a perfect job. We fought for the win, we never gave up, we always believed and in the end we did it.”
Speaking about his time trial effort, Almeida revealed that he thought that he’d gone off too quickly. “I over-paced a little bit at the beginning. In the end, I didn’t have any more gas to push in the last kilometre, but I guess it wasn’t necessary.”
He said the victory has a special feel because of the way that he and his team had battled. “I think in the end it’s a lesson. You should never give up. Sometimes things go wrong, sometimes things aren’t perfect. You just need to keep trying and we kept trying and we did it.”
Almeida’s next goal will the Tour de France, where he’ll be one of the key lieutenants for defending champion Tadej Pogačar. “I’ll be at the Tour de France to support Tadej and hopefully we can get more wins there,” said the Portuguese, who has now won his last three stage races after victories in the Itzulia Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie.
For a long while during the day, it had seemed an upset might be on the cards. Australian Harrison Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost) went off among the early starters and set a time that no one bettered until the GC favourites were on the course.
Gall eventually improved it by 90 seconds. Next to finish was Onley, whose time was 47 seconds down the Decathlon leader. Then Almeida powered up the final ramps of the climb that carried the riders 800 vertical metres up from the shores of Luke Lucerne to deliver the final verdict.
TOUR DE SUISSE 2025, STAGE EIGHT: BECKENRIED > STOCKHÜTTE (10.1KM TIME TRIAL)
1. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 27:33
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, +24s
3. Oscar Onley (GBr) Team Picnic PostNL, +1:11
4. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa - B&B Hotels, +1:40
5. Harrison Sweeny (Aus) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:54
6. Aleksandr Vlasov Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:03
7. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +2:06
8. Will Barta (USA) Movistar, +2:12
9. Finlay Pickering (Gbr) Bahrain Victorious, +2:14
10. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +2:19
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +29:29:01
2. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +1:07
3. Oscar Onley (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +1:58
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +2:20
5. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling Team, +3:57
6. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Lidl - Trek, +4:52
7. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +5:08
8. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +6:16
9. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar, +6:41
10. Clément Champoussin (Fra) XDS Astana, +8:30
