Almeida had to make up 33 seconds on Vauquelin to take the lead in the overall classification of the Tour de Suisse 2025. The previous day, the Portuguese rider had only just managed to win the stage ahead of his rivals, meaning that the decision was postponed until the final stage. In the end, João Almeida won the overall Tour de Suisse 2025 by just a few seconds and took the stage win on the eighth and final day of the tour. Second place went to Felix Gall of the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, while Oscar Onley of the Picnic PostNL team took a strong third place. Almeida was satisfied with his performance after the mountain time trial.
It was a hell of a long way from the first stage. That one mistake really cost us a hell of a lot. The big plan was to make up for this lost time - João Almeida
João Almeida won the overall classification ahead of Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley. Kévin Vauquelin was honoured as the best young rider, finishing ahead of Oscar Onley and Ilan van Wilder. The best climber was Aleksandr Vlasov, followed by João Almeida and Mauro Schmid. In addition to the overall classification, Almeida also won the points classification jersey, followed by Oscar Onley and Kévin Vauquelin.
How the 7th stage of the Tour de Suisse 2025 went
Stage 8 (ITT): Beckenried - Stockhütte
Tour de Suisse 2025: Stage 8 (ITT), Beckenried - Stockhütte
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UAE Team Emirates - XRG | 00:27:33 |
| 2 | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | +00:00:25 |
| 3 | Team Picnic PostNL | +00:01:12 |
| 4 | Arkéa - B&B Hotels | +00:01:40 |
| 5 | EF Education - EasyPost | +00:01:54 |
| 6 | Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe | +00:02:04 |
After winning the stage on the seventh day of the Tour de Suisse 2025, João Almeida had to continue his race to catch up with Kévin Vauquelin. His deficit from stage 1 continued until the final day of the tour, which is why there were still 33 seconds left on the race leader. As last year's winner, the Portuguese rider was the clear favourite to win both the stage and the overall classification.
Will the best time remain?
Harry Sweeny of the EF Education - EasyPost team set an early best time of 29:27 minutes, which stood for a long time. No other rider seemed to be able to match the Australian's time. However, Felix Gall was able to beat the time once again, and not just by a few seconds, but by 1:29 minutes. After that, it was clear that the winning time would be much faster than previously assumed, as the top favourites were still to come. Oscar Onley was also able to move ahead of Sweeny, but remained well behind Felix Gall.
Intermediate time as an indicator
Both Almeida and Vauquelin started the final stage at an incredibly fast pace. Almeida had already made up 22 seconds on the leading Frenchman at the intermediate time. However, the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider was still 11 seconds behind. Vauquelin was clearly riding at the limit. But Almeida, who had started directly in front of Vauquelin, also used every metre of the road in the bends. Vauquelin gave it his all, but lost further seconds on the second part of the course and collapsed in the final kilometres. With a gap of 1:40 minutes to the stage winner Almeida, the Frenchman slipped back to second place in the overall classification, while Almeida won the Tour de Suisse 2025 again.
Leon Weidner
Working student
