photo credits @WTFK
João Almeida won both today’s final time trial and the overall victory in the Tour de Suisse, overtaking Kévin Vauquelin in 10km ascent against the clock from Beckenried up to the Stockhütte.
The top favorite from Team UAE Emirates has lost significant ground leading up to today’s stage, trailing his French rival by 33 seconds in the overall classification.
Meanwhile, Oscar Onley clocked the third fastest time, pushing Julian Alaphilippe (Swiss Tudor) off the podium. The two-time world champion from France did not have his best day and even dropped back to 5th place in the overall standings behind the Austrian Felix Gall.
After a disappointing week, Alaphilippe’s teammate Marc Hirschi decided to abandon the race today. As expected, none of the other Swiss riders could compete at the front. The terrain was too steep for Swiss time trial aces Stefan Küng and Stefan Bissegger. The best Swiss rider was Mauro Schmid in 56th place, almost four and a half minutes behind the leader. The Zurich native was also the best Swiss rider in the overall standings in 43rd place.
Almeida is only the second Portuguese rider to win the Tour de Suisse after three-time winner Rui Costa (2012 to 2014). The 26-year-old thus achieved the Swiss double. Seven weeks ago, he won the Tour de Romandie in Geneva.
