As it happened: French success at chaotic Tour de Suisse 2025 opener

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2025-06-15T15:44:08.340Z

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>>> Tour de Suisse: Romain Grégoire attacks from breakaway to win rain-soaked stage 1

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-06-15T15:41:24.964Z
GC after stage one

1. Romain Gregoire (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 2:50’05”
2. Kevin Vauquelin (FRA) Arkea-B&B Hotels +24″
3. Bart Lemmen (NED) Visma-Lease a Bike +26″
4. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Tudor S.T.
5. Pablo Castrillo (ESP) Movistar +1’16”
6. Ben O’Connor (AUS) Jayco-AlUla +1’17”
7. Felix Großschartner (AUT) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
8. Lennard Kamna (GER) Lidl-Trek
9. Rainer Kepplinger (AUT) Bahrain Victorious all S.T.
10. B. Swift (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers +1’32”

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-06-15T15:36:21.127Z
Stage one top 10

1. Romain Gregoire (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 2:50’15”
2. Kevin Vauquelin (FRA) Arkea-B&B Hotels +20″
3. Bart Lemmen (NED) Visma-Lease a Bike
4. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Tudor all S.T.
5. Ben O’Connor (AUS) Jayco-AlUla +1’07”
6. Felix Großschartner (AUT) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
7. Pabl Castrllo (ESP) Movistar
8. Lennard Kamna (GER) Lidl-Trek
9. Rainer Kepplinger (AUT) Bahrain Victorious all S.T.
10. Nicola Conci (ITA) XDS-Astana +1’26”

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-06-15T15:32:38.318Z

Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL), Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R), Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and others losing over three minutes to Gregoire in the end.

2025-06-15T15:29:39.934Z

O’Connor leads in the third group over a minute down. Not what he would’ve hoped for but he is well in the fight for the GC.

2025-06-15T15:28:44.213Z

He holds an advantage of 20″ on the three chasers led in by Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels).

2025-06-15T15:27:57.903Z

Romain Gregoire of Groupama-FDJ wins stage one of the Tour de Suisse 2025!

2025-06-15T15:27:40.157Z
Flamme Rouge!

It is going to be a superb victory for Gregoire with Alaphilippe almost certain to be in 2nd overall after his Tissot KM bonuses.

2025-06-15T15:25:30.240Z
3km to go

Romain Gregoire is now extending his advantage on Julian Alaphilippe, Bart Lemmen and Kevin Vauquelin.

2025-06-15T15:23:57.463Z

If he can keep it upright, Gregoire will be taking this stage. He is absolutely flying here with the chasers unable to close the gap.

2025-06-15T15:22:37.551Z
5km to go

Gregoire has 8″ on the three chasers with 25″ back to the next group. No clock on the peloton.

2025-06-15T15:21:51.119Z

Gregoire pushes on again and has pulled out more of a margin over his chasers but these roads are very slippy. He needs to be careful.

2025-06-15T15:19:48.169Z

They are now just on a little kicker before properly descending to the line. The chasing trio are just 4″ off Gregoire with just under 8km to go.

2025-06-15T15:17:38.113Z
10km to go

Gregoire has just 7″ on the chasing trio as Alaphilippe finally comes through to start working with Vauquelin and Lemmen.

2025-06-15T15:16:56.581Z

Romain Gregoire goes solo for Groupama-FDJ. Behind, Kevin Vauquelin is being forced to do most the work.

Julian Alaphilippe doesn’t appear to want to help the chasing with Bart Lemmen finally taking a turn.

2025-06-15T15:14:25.694Z

Gregoire leads down the descent and has gapped his rivals with Alaphilippe losing touch with Lemmen and Vauquelin, surprisingly.

2025-06-15T15:13:11.496Z
Attack

Vauquelin launches as they go over the top of the climb with Alaphilippe jumping after him. Lemmen and Gregoire looked to be able to follow as well.

2025-06-15T15:12:14.298Z

Now only four riders out front:

Alaphilippe (Tudor)
Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels)
Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ)
Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike)

2025-06-15T15:11:24.494Z
Attack

Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor)

The Frenchman is looking like the vintage Alaphilippe but he has company with Vauquelin, Gregoire and Lemmen following.

O’Connor, Castrillo and Großschartner go after them.

2025-06-15T15:08:36.445Z

Fortunato is now out of the back of the lead group as well. The Italian climber looks to be feeling it after a very successful Giro d’Italia where he took the mountains jersey.

2025-06-15T15:07:51.563Z

Yet more riders go out of the back of the break with Conci, Barguil and Zimmerman the next to go out of the back.

The peloton are closing in on the break, though. They’re just 2’28” down now.

2025-06-15T15:05:50.928Z

Bax, Houle, Maisonobe and Graat all lose touch with the O’Connor led group.

2025-06-15T15:03:45.721Z

O’Connor takes up the pacing himself as he drives to try and get as much of a gap over the likes of Almeida back in the peloton as he possibly can.

2025-06-15T15:02:31.258Z

Mohoric has been dropped from the breakaway after he worked hard for his teammate, Kepplinger. Simmons also losing touch along with Le Berre.

2025-06-15T15:01:20.057Z
20km to go

Just onto the final climb of the day, the second ascent of the Michaelskreuzstrasse. The break have 2’52” on the peloton.

2025-06-15T14:57:27.595Z

There’s been a split in the peloton on the descent but they are now just stitching it back together again.

2025-06-15T14:54:59.243Z

Jayco-AlUla are doing a superb job for O’Connor here to give him a huge opportunity for this race overall and just for the stage today.

2025-06-15T14:50:17.405Z
KoM (Adligenswilerstrasse)

1. Felix Engelhardt (GER) Jayco-AlUla 3pts
2. Matej Mohoric (SLO) Bahrain Victorious 2pts
3. Ben O’Connor (AUS) Jayco-AlUla 1pt

2025-06-15T14:49:12.692Z
30km to go

The peloton are finally inside three minutes but it appears to be too little too late. Although, the Michaelskreuzstrasse may see the likes of Almeida and Vlasov launch.

2025-06-15T14:47:58.358Z

Swift confirmed to have taken the first Tissot sprint ahead of Alaphilippe and Castrillo. The second Tissot sprint was taken by Simmons ahead of Alaphilippe and Swift.

So, Alaphilippe and Swift both take 4″ bonus, 3″ for Simmons and 1″ for Castrillo.

2025-06-15T14:43:07.128Z

Unsurprisingly, Jayco-AlUla are the main team working on the front of the break as they have Ben O’Connor in there. This could be a huge moment for the Australian climber.

2025-06-15T14:41:14.203Z

Onto the Adligenswilerstrasse for the second time today. The category three climb was first ridden right at the start of the day.

2025-06-15T14:40:17.194Z
Intermediate sprint (Küssnacht)

1. Mathis Le Berre (FRA) Arkea-B&B Hotels 6pts
2. Pablo Castrillo (ESP) Movistar 4pts
3. Matej Mohoric (SLO) Bahrain Victorious 2pts

2025-06-15T14:38:33.633Z
Crash in peloton

Stefan Bissegger (DAT)
Anton Palzer (RBH)

Both back riding as far as we know.

2025-06-15T14:35:36.689Z
40km to go

The gap is closing between the leaders and the peloton but it isn’t closing fast. They are currently +3’25” between each other.

2025-06-15T14:31:49.297Z
Crash in break

Quinn Simmons (LTK)

A few others were caught out but didn’t go down. All back riding again. Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) also caught up in the accident.

2025-06-15T14:30:41.098Z

The rain is absolutely pouring it down on the riders now.

2025-06-15T14:27:18.318Z

Finally, the gap is starting to close between the leaders and the peloton. It is now at +3’28”.

2025-06-15T14:26:49.220Z

The graphics just showed that Simmons took the first Tissot Sprint but that didn’t look to be the case from the shots shown. We shall wait for later this evening for those confirmed results.

2025-06-15T14:23:32.582Z

The rain has come and immediately the signal is lost on the ground. It looks like they’re riding into a big storm.

2025-06-15T14:22:58.666Z
Tissot Sprint 1

1. Ben Swift (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers 3″
2. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Tudor 2″
3. Quinn Simmons (USA) Lidl-Trek 1″

The cameras did not show the result on Tissot Sprint 2.

2025-06-15T14:16:20.535Z

The clouds have come and the temperature has dropped a bit from earlier with the sheets of rain looking rather ominous just ahead of them.

2025-06-15T14:05:47.601Z

The peloton is led by UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Ineos Grenadiers, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Soudal-QuickStep and Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale as they scramble to salvage the situation.

2025-06-15T14:04:47.493Z

It looks like the weather is closing in over the mountains and the riders may be about to get very wet as they head to the Tissot kilometre and return to the Adligenswilerstrasse and Michaelskreuzstrasse.

2025-06-15T14:03:48.507Z
70km to go

The gap continues to grow to 3’35” between the leaders and the chasing peloton.

2025-06-15T13:53:44.827Z

It is a long list of 28 riders at the front:

Großschartner (UAD)
Costiou (ARK)
Le Berre (ARK)
Vauquelin (ARK)
Maisonobe (COF)
Mohoric (TBV)
Kepplinger (TBV)
Cosnefroy (DAT)
Gregoire (GFC)
B. Swift (IGD)
Zimmerman (IWA)
Kamna (LTK)
Simmons (LTK)
Castrillo (MOV)
Barta (MOV)
Durbridge (JAY)
Engelhardt (JAY)
O’Connor (JAY)
Barguil (TPP)
Graat (TVL)
Lemmen (TVL)
Conci (XAT)
Fortunato (XAT)
Bennett (IPT)
Houle (IPT)
Badilatti (Q36)
Bax (Q36)
Alaphilippe (TUD)

There’s definitely others in there.

Peloton +3’15”

2025-06-15T13:47:56.137Z

Jan Christen looks to be really struggling with the pain of his road rash that he got from his crash all up his left side back in the peloton.

2025-06-15T13:46:39.179Z

George Bennett (Israel-Premier Tech) is also in this front group.

2025-06-15T13:45:22.467Z

Ben O’Connor of Jayco-AlUla has made the split as well. One of the pre-race favourites is right at the pointy end, here.

Kevin Vauquelin also in there as a big danger. Felix Großschartner, Antonio Morgado, Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) and others who absolutely could be involved in the GC at this race in the front group.

2025-06-15T13:42:23.332Z

This is an extremely dangerous group of, at least, 27 riders. Could this be the race going up the road on day one of eight?

2025-06-15T13:41:33.556Z

There is a UAE Team Emirates-XRG and it is the very talented Felix Großschartner. He also has Antonio Morgado in there too, a rider who is perfect for today.

Tao Geoghegan-Hart (Lidl-Trek) is also in this lead group as Alaphilippe and Engelhardt are caught.

2025-06-15T13:38:31.111Z
Race situation

Leaders:

Alaphilippe (TUD)
Engelhardt (JAY)

Chase +10″:

Costiou (ARK)
Mohoric (TBV)
Van der Meulen (TBV)
Cosnesfroy (DAT)
Zimmerman (IWA)
Kamna (LTK)
Simmons (LTK)
Barta (MOV)
Barguil (TPP)
Durbridge (JAY)
Graat (TVL)
Conci (XAT)
Houle (IPT)
Badilatti (Q36)
Maisonobe (COF)
Vauquelin (ARK)
Le Berre (ARK)
+ a few others

Peloton +2’20”

2025-06-15T13:34:07.000Z
90km to go

Alaphilippe and Engelhardt still have a small lead on a very large chasing break. Then the main GC group that have slowed up now. It looks like the breakaway is set.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-06-15T13:29:07.189Z

The chase group has been caught but new attacks come immediately led by Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Benoit Cosnesfroy (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) among others.

2025-06-15T13:27:55.290Z
KoM (Michaelskreuzstrasse)

1. Engelhardt (GER) Jayco-AlUla 6pts
2. Alaphilippe (FRA) Tudor 4pts
3. Vauquelin (FRA) Arkea-B&B Hotels 3pts
4. Langellotti (MON) Ineos Grenadiers 2pts
5. Sobrero (ITA) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe 1pt

2025-06-15T13:23:32.116Z

Yet more attacks coming from the peloton. They are over the Michaelskreuzstrasse and are almost at the bottom of the descent with riders all over the course.

2025-06-15T13:22:28.095Z
100km to go

Leaders:

Alaphilippe (TUD)
Engelhardt (JAY)

Chasers +22″:

Costiou (ARK)
Vauquelin (ARK)
Bilbao (TBV)
Kung (GFC)
Langellotti (IGD)
Lopez (LTK)
Simmons (LTK)
Castrillo (MOV)
Sobrero (RBH)
Benoot (TVL)
Bennett (IPT)
F. Christen (Q36)

Peloton +51″

2025-06-15T13:13:28.474Z
Attack

Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor)
Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla)

2025-06-15T13:10:03.767Z

There are several splits in the peloton now as the pace is very high.

2025-06-15T13:09:20.583Z

Riders are losing touch with the peloton on the Michaelskreuzstrasse climb.

2025-06-15T13:07:29.136Z

Jan Christen is back in the peloton after his earlier crash. A scary moment for the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man.

2025-06-15T13:06:28.682Z
Attack

Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Simone Petilli (Intermarche-Wanty)
Pieter Serry (Soudal-QuickStep)
Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla)
Alex Edmondson (Picnic-PostNL)
Sjoerd Bax (Q36.5)
Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor)

But they are quickly swept back up by the peloton.

2025-06-15T13:04:40.426Z

The riders are about to start the first ascent of the category two climb of the Michaelskreuzstrasse.

2025-06-15T12:58:01.864Z
Crash!

Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

One of the home favourites for this race has gone down. Not the way the young Swiss rider will have wanted to start his race.

2025-06-15T12:55:45.603Z
Puncture

James Knox (Soudal-QuickStep)

The British climber from Cumbria having a poorly timed flat as more attacks go off the front of the peloton.

2025-06-15T12:54:50.896Z

Le Berre is caught and the two pelotons come back together again as well. It is gruppo compacto again.

2025-06-15T12:51:58.776Z
Attack!

Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-B&B Hotels)

The French rider has a small gap on the first peloton that still has a gap on the bunch that split on the Adligenswilerstrasse.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-06-15T12:51:06.356Z
KoM (Adligenswilerstrasse)

1. Pablo Castrillo (ESP) Movistar 3pts
2. Valentin Madouas (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 2pts
3. Tom Gloag (GBR) Visma-Lease a Bike 1pt

2025-06-15T12:47:41.793Z
Split in peloton

Around 20 riders have a gap as they head over the top of the Adligenswilerstrasse climb. Multiple attacks have come but no real break has formed. But the pace is high, meaning the bunch has split.

2025-06-15T12:39:03.972Z
129km to go

Racing begins and immediately the attacks come to try and form the early breakaway.

2025-06-15T12:37:02.559Z

The start may be held a little longer as Luc Wirtgen (Tudor) has had a puncture.

2025-06-15T12:33:06.817Z

The first climb comes very early on with the Adligenswilerstrasse being the snappy title for the category three ascent.

2025-06-15T12:31:52.474Z

The women started the day in heavy rain with thunder and lightning but it quickly burnt off and it is now very bright and sunny with the temperature at 27°c.

2025-06-15T12:30:49.752Z
Neutral start

The riders have rolled out and have started the neutralised zone for the opening stage of the 88th Tour de Suisse. The neutral zone is just 3.1km long today.

2025-06-15T12:23:48.974Z

The riders are due to roll out of Küssnacht in about 10 minutes time for the neutralised start.

2025-06-15T12:20:46.856Z

Earlier today the women took on the same stage as the men are doing soon. It was a brutal battle and it ended with a solo victory after multiple attacks.

>>> Marlen Reusser seals 2025 Tour de Suisse Women victory with final day solo victory

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2025-06-15T12:14:45.173Z

Coming into this race there is one big stand-out favourite for the overall. That is UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s João Almeida. He has been in fine form this season and will hope that he, alongside Swiss star Jan Christen, that they can take back-to-back GC titles at this race after Adam Yates won last year.

2025-06-12T16:51:46.372Z

Hello and welcome to CyclingNews’ live report on stage one of the men’s Tour de Suisse 2025.

The opening day for the men is the exact same stage the women have just finished in Küssnacht with the start and finish in the town after 129km of racing.