It was a w/kg test for almost an hour on the giant Thyon 2000 climb, with UAE Emirates dominating another World Tour climbing race, but João Almeida once again unable to be clutch.
It was Thyon 2000 day in the Tour de Romandie with UAE Emirates being the favourites, as they had João Almeida and Jay Vine as the race leader, both of whom excel at a w/kg test for almost an hour. The climbing record was set by Adam Yates in 2023 with him doing 5.95 ᵉW/kg for 58:35, beating Thibaut Pinot. In 2025, nothing had changed as another Frenchman, Lenny Martinez, and UAE were among the favourites. The stage was high intensity before Thyon 2000, as Oscar Onley, before the climb, did 2461 kJ for 2:52h at 14.99 kJ/kg/h.
Surprisingly, Argentinian Eduardo Sepúlveda from Lotto was pulling for Lennert Van Eetvelt, which was enough to distance Aleksandr Vlasov. Not long after his pull, Pablo Torres, Geraint Thomas, and even Remco Evenepoel, who was working as a domestique for Junior Lecerf and helping his teammate to fight for the top 10 in GC, were dropped.
When the steepest part started with 8 km to go, UAE activated with Jay Vine, who made a very select group with Almeida, Martinez, and Lorenzo Fortunato. Despite Vine being in the leader’s jersey, he was working for the Portuguese, showing why he won on Pico Jano in the 2022 La Vuelta, beating Evenepoel, Roglič, and others from the GC group. In the end, it was Martinez vs. Almeida, with the Frenchman securing another WorldTour win in 2025.
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Martinez and Almeida did 5.89 ᵉW/kg for 58:42 riding up to altitude, not far off Adam Yates’s 5.95 ᵉW/kg for 58:35 in the 2023 record. The performance was impressive as the race was not easy. U23 riders Mathys Rondel and Jørgen Nordhagen performed exceptionally well for their age. Nordhagen, who is only 20, survived for a long time in the leading group and did 5.75 ᵉW/kg, beating big names. Not many second-year U23 riders in history could have produced this kind of performance after such a high-intensity day, with another climber born in 2005, Pablo Torres, still trying to find his Finestre 2024 legs.
Crazy we are now shoulder shrugging at nearly 6 w/kg for an hour these days.