João Almeida won the uphill time trial at the Tour de Suisse for the second year in a row. Last year, he beat his teammate Adam Yates and finished second overall; this time, he won both the stage and the general classification.
Kevin Vauquelin held a 33-second lead over Almeida in the general classification before the final stage, with the Portuguese rider having lost almost three minutes to the Arkéa leader on Stage 1. However, Almeida’s consistent climbing performances had steadily reduced the gap, and he was aiming to win both the stage and the GC today.
Almeida delivered a high-level performance, producing 6.88 ᵉW/kg for 26:48 minutes. Only Felix Gall lost less than a minute to the UAE star, riding at 6.77 ᵉW/kg for 27:11 minutes. Vauquelin lost 1:40 with 6.43 ᵉW/kg, while Julian Alaphilippe had a terrible day, finishing 40th and losing almost four minutes.
This marks João Almeida’s third consecutive WorldTour stage race victory in just 2.5 months, while no French rider has won a WorldTour stage race in the last 18 years. After six stage races, Almeida is now set to race both the Tour de France and La Vuelta, a schedule that, if completed, will total over 80 days of high-level racing.
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I mean Felix Gall climbing at Pogacar level seems a bit off
It’s a TT. I was expecting no less.
Power data of Kevin Vauquelin are public on Strava. How does it compare with your estimates?
I don’t know what will be Almeida’s form after the Vuelta having competed so many days but I would love to see him in this form against the big boys at the Worlds this year. Since it is expected to be an attritional race, his capacity to suffer and deliver when everyone else is broken could lead him to success.
Thats some potent dope