The Tour de Suisse doesn’t boast such superstars, but it does have another potential Tour-podium favorite in Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla). Other than that, it is a showcase for Tour de France domestiques, such as Pogačar lieutenant João Almeida, and potential Tour stage winners, such as Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), and Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa–B&B Hotels).
That doesn’t mean that it is an inferior race. On the contrary, it might even be more competitive – and therefore more exciting – than the Dauphiné, which was dominated by Pogačar (who became the last winner of a race called the Critérium du Dauphiné because, starting next year, it will be called the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, race organizers ASO announced).
The first three stages were thrilling, with a faux pas on stage 1 by UAE Team Emirates–XRG, who let a strong breakaway get away and were then unable or otherwise incapable of chasing it down. This led to an impressive victory by the 22-year-old Grégoire, 20 seconds ahead of another Frenchman, Vauquelin.
“It’s always something really special to win at the WorldTour level, so I’m really, really happy,” said Grégoire, who won a stage of the Vuelta two years ago. More important for the GC, O’Connor was part of the breakaway and, though he faded and finished 1:07 behind the winner, crossed the line 2:12 ahead of Almeida. The heavy rain that swamped the roads was no doubt a factor in UAE’s inability to muster the speed to catch the break.
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Monday’s stage 2 was won in a ragged uphill bunch sprint by Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), just ahead of Fabio Christen (Q36.5) and Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ). Christen’s brother Jan, who rides for UAE Team Emirates–XRG, kicked off the tense endgame by trying to go solo 2.5 km from the finish. But he ran out of steam and was soon replaced at the front by U.S. road race champion Simmons with 1 km left to ride. But he was caught and passed by the podium trio, with Albanese producing a powerful final kick to take his first WorldTour win.
“It’s my first victory in WorldTour, and at this fantastic race in Switzerland, and I’m very, very happy,” the delighted winner said afterwards. “I say thank you to all my team. It was a fantastic job in the [final] kilometer.” He also said that he was meant to be the lead-out rider for [Madis] Mihkels. “But in the last kilometer, Simmons and some others attacked and I followed. Then I saw 200 m to the finish and I went full until the line,” he explained.
Though an also-ran in the stage, the 24-year-old Simmons was far from discouraged and unleashed a gutsy solo ride the following day to win stage 3. He was part of a six-rider breakaway when he broke away on his own with about 20 km left to ride on the 195.6 km course from Aarau to Heiden.
There was indecision in the peloton, as there often is, as teams were unwilling to do the hard pursuit work and possibly allow rivals to benefit. As a result, Simmons sailed unchallenged to the finish, crossing the line 18 seconds ahead of Almeida and Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL).
As he crossed the finish line, Simmons pointed to the sky as a tribute to the late Swiss rider Gino Mäder, who died in a high-speed crash on a descent in the 2023 Tour de Suisse. The American was riding behind Mäder when he skidded off the road and fell down a ravine and was deeply affected by the fatal crash. “The motivation was super high today,” he told TNT Sports. “I really wanted to win yesterday, on the two-year anniversary of when we lost Gino. I really wanted to win and dedicate it to him. I did [it] a day late.”
By receiving bonus seconds for finishing second, Almeida reduced his arrears to O’Connor to 1:59, as the race now heads into the mountains for three climbing stages, with Thursday’s queen stage, which has three category 1 climbs, including the steep summit finish (4.5 km @ 9.8%), sure to be the decider. Grégoire still has the yellow jersey, 25 seconds ahead of Vauquelin, with Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease a Bike) 27 seconds adrift.
