While the top favourites for the Tour de France draw the headlines by duelling at the Critérium du Dauphiné, across the border, the less heralded names have a chance to challenge for a WorldTour title and put their hat into the ring as a potential Tour candidate at the Tour de Suisse.
The race looks set to be an open affair, with lots of quality riders taking part as they fine-tune their preparations for the Tour, but none of the peloton’s very elite who tend to sweep all before them.
As ever, the parcours of this race offers a festival of climbing taking in many of the mountains that make Switzerland such a beautiful country. Here’s who we expect to be the protagonists.
Contenders
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
Having taken over the reins so successfully to take overall victory at both Itzulia Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie during the spring, João Almeida will once again have the chance to lead the formidable UAE Team Emirates-XRG team before returning to super-domestique duties for Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France. Those aforementioned victories have seen the Portuguese add a killer instinct to his consistency and make him the outright favourite for yellow at the Tour de Suisse. He won two stages last year and was second overall in service of victor Adam Yates, in a very impressive one-two for the team. This year he’ll lead outright, with Jay Vine (whose third place behind him in Romandie suggests he has the legs to push for a podium) in the support role.
Ben O’Connor (Jayco-Alula)
Jayco-Alula signed Ben O’Connor on the back of a terrific 2024 season, in which he registered career-best Grand Tour results of fourth at the Giro d’Italia and second at the Vuelta a España. So far, however, the Australian has fallen well short of that form, falling short of the top 10 at both Paris-Nice and Volta a Catalunya. Encouragingly, June tends to be the month when he starts to find his best legs, as was the case in both 2022 and 2023 when he placed third overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné — with those legs, he’d likely be the winner of the Tour de Suisse given the relatively weaker field here.
(Photo by Billy Ceusters/ASO)
Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe)
While most of Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe’s army of GC leaders rest and recover after riding the Giro d’Italia, and Florian Lipowitz leads the line at the Dauphine, the path is clear for Aleksandr Vlasov to ride the Tour de Suisse as the team’s outright leader. Vlasov has, however, mostly misfired even when he has led the team this season, failing to back strong time trials up with his usual climbing legs. But if he can rediscover the form that saw him not fail to make the top six in all four week-long stage races he appeared at last year, he’s one of the most accomplished GC riders on the start list, and will want to seize this chance to remind everyone what he’s capable of ahead of the Tour de France.
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers)
Geraint Thomas is (along with Rui Costa) one of only two riders competing this year to have won the Tour de Suisse, but since his triumph in 2022 hasn’t made the top ten in any week-long stage race. As he nears retirement, does the 39-year-old still have what it takes to compete for GC? Despite the lack of results in shorter stage races, he has still excelled in Grand Tours in that time, making the podium at both the 2023 and 2024 Giro d’Italia. The fact that he’s been designated Ineos’ leader suggests they anticipate him being in the mix.
(Photo by Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Other contenders
Several of the riders who made the top ten in last year’s race will return to target GC again. Matthew Riccitello will hope to rediscover the legs that saw him place fifth overall, having struggled for form this year; Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) could improve on his ninth place finish as he continues to mature; and if Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) can find some consistency, his climbing could see him challenge for the overall victory.
One protagonist from last year who won’t be returning is podium finisher Mattias Skjelmose, so instead it’ll be up to his Lidl-Trek teammate Tao Geoghegan Hart to take over GC leadership. Third overall at the recent Tour of Slovenia was his first podium GC finish for over two years.
The ageing Basque duo of 36-year-old Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) and 35-year-old Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) are out to prove they’ve still got the legs to challenge for GC having endured difficult season so far; 38-year-old Rui Costa, whose three successive overall victories here occurred over 10 years ago, is surely now too old to do so.
Stage hunters
It’s hard to find many flat roads in Switzerland, and the parcours for this year’s Tour de Suisse offers precious few opportunities for sprinters, with even the non-mountain stages featuring enough climbs to prevent a straightforward bunch sprint.
Sprinters like Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) will therefore have to bring their best climbing legs if they're to be in contention for any stages.
(Photo by Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
We can expect plenty of attacks from puncheurs, especially from teams with multiple options like Tudor Pro Cycling (Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi), Groupama-FDJ (Valentin Madouas, Romain Grégoire and home favourite Stefan Küng) and XDS-Astana (Christian Scaroni and Alberto Bettiol).
Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) will hope to find the form that has eluded him all season, while Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) is a great candidate for a stage win if he chooses to chase them rather than ride for GC.
Prediction
Given the dominant way he’s ridden all year, the strength of his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team, and the lack of standout names on the startlist, it’s difficult to see past João Almeida claiming yet another WorldTour overall victory.
Cover image by Billy Ceusters/ASO
