Stage 7 of the 2025 Tour de Suisse featured a fierce GC battle as João Almeida pushed to close the gap to leader Kevin Vauquelin.
Tour de Suisse stage 7 2025 profile
João Almeida and UAE Team Emirates were once again chasing the leader’s jersey at the Tour de Suisse. On Stage 5, the Portuguese climber rode aggressively, with only Oscar Onley able to follow him on the final climb, ultimately winning the stage with a performance of 6.8 ᵉW/kg for 19:02 on Santa Maria. That effort moved Almeida up to third in the general classification, just 39 seconds behind Kevin Vauquelin.
Stage 7 presented another opportunity, with the racing pace remaining high throughout. By the final climb, Onley had expended 4219 kilojoules over 4:28 hours at a rate of 15.89 kj/kg/h. The penultimate climb was also hard, ridden at 6.6 ᵉW/kg for 14 minutes. Felix Gall was the most aggressive, attacking multiple times and gaining a gap on the final ascent before being caught in the final kilometer.
Emmetten – Suisse – cycling – cyclisme – radsport – wielrennen – Van Den Broek Frank (NED) of Team Picnic PostNL leading the escape pack pictured during Tour de Suisse 2025 stage 7 from Neuhausen am Rheinfall to Emmetten (207.3km) 21/06/2025 – Photo: Vincent Kalut/PN/Cor Vos © 2025
On the final climb to Emmetten (3.58 km at 8.8%), Almeida set the pace, aiming to drop both Alaphilippe and Vauquelin. Alaphilippe was dropped shortly before the finish, while Vauquelin remained with Onley, Almeida, and Gall until the closing meters. Vauquelin launched his sprint early but was passed by Onley and Almeida.
On Emmetten, Almeida produced 7.23 ᵉW/kg for 9:32. Gall, having attacked and faced more wind exposure, did 7.2 ᵉW/kg, while Vauquelin, Onley and Alaphilippe were between 7.06 and 7.10 ᵉW/kg.
Vauquelin retained the leader’s jersey with a 33-second margin over Almeida heading into the final stage, a decisive mountain time trial. It is a perfect opportunity for Almeida to secure his third WorldTour GC victory of the season, while Vauquelin could become the first Frenchman to win a WorldTour stage race since Christophe Moreau triumphed at the 2007 Critérium du Dauphiné, a reminder of how rare French GC success has been in the past two decades.