João Almeida wins Tour de Suisse stage 7 in GC favourites sprint
UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider keeps GC hopes alive but yellow jersey wearer Kévin Vauquelin remains favourite to score overall victory
João Almeida won stage seven of the Tour de Suisse to narrow his gap to GC leader Kévin Vauquelin fractionally.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader won the sprint in Emmetten from the group of GC favourites to take 10 bonus seconds, while the Arkéa-B&B Hotels yellow jersey wearer was only third, picking up four bonus seconds. Brit Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) was second.
It’s the second stage win the Portuguese rider has racked up in this race. He also claimed victory in stage four.
The result narrowed Almeida’s gap to Vauquelin to 33 seconds ahead of the final day’s 10km climbing time trial. At the finish Almeida refrained from commenting in detail on the gap saying simply “every second is important”.
Almeida’s assault on Vauquelin’s yellow jersey, has been hamstrung by the time he, and many other favourites, lost on the race’s first stage. On that day Vauquelin gained over three minutes from being in the day’s breakaway, which produced the eventual winner of the stage.
Speaking to TNT Sports at the finish Almeida said: “It was a hard day, all day it was very fast. My teammates did a great job to catch the breakaway, pulling all day, they were super strong. This is a victory for them.”
Asked if he was now the favourite for the GC win, given his pedigree as a time trial rider, Almeida said: “No I think he [Vauquelin] is also very strong in the TT, so it’s going to be tough but I’ll give everything I have.”
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How it happened
It took just over 40km of the day’s 201km for a seven-rider break to form. Those who’d spend their day off the front were Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step), Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla), Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL),Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech).
The break would stretch its lead up to over three minutes as the race sped towards Emmetten. Just ahead of the day’s first significant climb, the second category ascent of Schwändi, three riders crashed. Among them was Thomas Gloag (Visma-Lease a Bike), Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who was riding in his home tour, and Bob Jungles (Ineos Grenadiers). But they would all remount and finish the stage.
At the top of the ascent the king of the mountains points were won by Vlasov, who was leading the competition with nearly double the points of his closest rival João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the start of the day.
As the front group hit the start of the most serious climbs of the day with 22km to go, and the peloton bearing down upon them just 45 seconds back, Simmons (who won stage three earlier in the week) attacked off the front and swiftly built a small gap.
Behind, Tudor Pro Cycling were doing the chasing and had reduced the peloton substantially before ceding the front of the chase to Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale as the road pointed skyward. Yellow jersey wearer Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) remained glued the wheels of the rival French team.
As they ground their way up the Bürgenstock climb with gradients into the double digits Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) launched an attack at only Brit Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) could follow, but Almeida used his impressive diesel engine to haul his way back to him with Julien Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) and race leader Vauquelin in tow.
The group of favourites caught Simmons with 2km left to climb on the penultimate ascent and Van den Broek, who had held on after having been caught from the day’s break, began to set the tempo in service of Onley.
The group of six favourites was chased by a group of 13, just 20 seconds back, as they descended to the foot of the day’s final climb to Emmetten, a 3.9km ascent averaging just over 8% and with ramps of 15%. With Van den Broek continuing to drive the front group onwards, Onley looked set to attack but as the Dutchman swung over it was Almeida who came through to set the pace.
The next to move was Gall, who at 2.20 back on the yellow jersey, needed the biggest gap to try and mount a challenge for the GC. Almeida’s chasing kept the Austrian on a short leash and he never got a gap of over 10 seconds.
As the yellow jersey group approached the flamme rouge Alaphilippe lost contact, his GC podium place hanging in the balance. As they entered the final kilometre, and having caught Gall, Onley mounted an attack but was swiftly marked.
Then as the favourites prepared to sprint for the stage win Alaphilippe got himself back in the group and with a few hundred meters to race Vauquelin opened up the sprint but could not hold off a fast-charging Almeida.
Tour de Suisse 2025, stage seven: Neuhausen am Rheinfall > Emmetten (207km)
1. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:38:25
2. Oscar Onley (GBr) Team Picnic PostNL,
3. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa - B&B Hotels, both at same time
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, +4s
5. Julian Alaphilippe Tudor Pro Cycling Team, +8s
6. Felix Großschartner (Ger) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:07
7. Joseph Blackmore (GBr) Israel - Premier Tech
8. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
9. Clément Champoussin (Fra) XDS Astana
10. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Lidl - Trek, all at same time
General classification
1. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels in 29:00:55
2. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +32s
3. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling Team, +41s
4. Oscar Onley (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +1:19
5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +2:28
6. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Lidl - Trek, +2:55
7. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +3:27
8. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar, +4:27
9. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +4:28
10. Clément Champoussin (Fra) XDS Astana, +6:05
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Having trained as a journalist at Cardiff University I spent eight years working as a business journalist covering everything from social care, to construction to the legal profession and riding my bike at the weekends and evenings. When a friend told me Cycling Weekly was looking for a news editor, I didn't give myself much chance of landing the role, but I did and joined the publication in 2016. Since then I've covered Tours de France, World Championships, hour records, spring classics and races in the Middle East. On top of that, since becoming features editor in 2017 I've also been lucky enough to get myself sent to ride my bike for magazine pieces in Portugal and across the UK. They've all been fun but I have an enduring passion for covering the national track championships. It might not be the most glamorous but it's got a real community feeling to it.
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