{"id":198895,"date":"2025-06-23T09:53:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T09:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=198895"},"modified":"2025-06-23T09:57:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T09:57:16","slug":"almeida-comes-from-behind-to-snatch-tour-de-suisse-victory-on-final-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/06\/23\/almeida-comes-from-behind-to-snatch-tour-de-suisse-victory-on-final-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Almeida Comes from Behind to Snatch Tour de Suisse Victory on Final Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

After spotting his GC rivals up to 3 minutes on stage 1, Jo\u00e3o Almeida (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG) won the Tour de Suisse after a relentless fightback, winning three of the next seven stages, including Sunday\u2019s decisive final-stage ITT.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Going into stage 8, Almeida trailed the courageous K\u00e9vin Vauquelin (Ark\u00e9a\u2013B&B Hotels) by 33 seconds, with Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro) sitting third at 41 seconds. But the ITT course was tailor-made for the 26-year-old Portuguese, who is an excellent time trial rider and was the best climber in the race. Most of the10km course from Beckenried to Stockh\u00fctte consisted of a difficult ascent (9.2km @ 9%, with ramps up to 12.6%), and Almeida made the most of it.<\/p>\n

He beat Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) by 25 seconds, with a third climber, Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), coming third, 1:12 adrift. Vauquelin, who is not a climber, nevertheless finished an admirable fourth, 1:40 behind the winner, but lost the yellow jersey. Almeida won the GC by 1:07 over Vauquelin, who won a lot of fans with his gritty performance. Onley finished third in the race, at 1:58. Alaphilippe is neither a top time trial rider nor a strong climber and finished a whopping 3:49 behind Almeida in the ITT, but his fifth-place GC finish suggests that he is slowly coming back to his best.<\/p>\n

An embarrassing beginning<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cIt was a long way to go, one mistake can cost you a lot, but luckily we could make up for it,\u201d the delighted winner said after the race. \u201cI\u2019m super happy. I did a really good climb. For a few moments I thought my power meter wasn\u2019t calibrated because it was showing high numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almeida went on to say that, after the disappointment of stage 1, he and his team went into fightback mode. \u201cWe did a perfect job. We fought for the win, we never gave up, we always believed and in the end we did it,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cI think in the end it\u2019s a lesson. You should never give up. Sometimes things go wrong, sometimes things aren\u2019t perfect. You just need to keep trying. And we kept trying and we did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almeida came into the race as the strong favorite as it contained many mountains and much climbing over its 1,283km of racing. But he and his team left him with a lot to do after a faux pas on stage 1, when they 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 Romain Gr\u00e9goire\u00a0(Groupama-FDJ), 20 seconds ahead of Vauquelin and 3:12 ahead of Almeida.<\/p>\n

The real worry for UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG was surely Ben O\u2019Connor (Jayco AlUla), a strong climber who had been part of the stage 1 breakaway and lost only 1:07 to the winner. Being 2:05 behind a rider who had finished second in last year\u2019s Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a> and has won a stage in each of the three Grand Tours must have worried Almeida.<\/p>\n

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Zobrazit p\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek na Instagramu<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd Tour de Suisse Men & Women (@tourdesuisse_official)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n