Stage 7 of the 2025 Tour de Suisse featured a fierce GC battle as João Almeida pushed to close the gap to leader Kevin Vauquelin.

João Almeida and UAE Team Emirates were once again chasing the leader’s jersey at the Tour de Suisse. On Stage 5, the Portuguese climber rode aggressively, with only Oscar Onley able to follow him on the final climb, ultimately winning the stage with a performance of 6.8 ᵉW/kg for 19:02 on Santa Maria. That effort moved Almeida up to third in the general classification, just 39 seconds behind Kevin Vauquelin.

Stage 7 presented another opportunity, with the racing pace remaining high throughout. By the final climb, Onley had expended 4219 kilojoules over 4:28 hours at a rate of 15.89 kj/kg/h. The penultimate climb was also hard, ridden at 6.6 ᵉW/kg for 14 minutes. Felix Gall was the most aggressive, attacking multiple times and gaining a gap on the final ascent before being caught in the final kilometer.

On the final climb to Emmetten (3.58 km at 8.8%), Almeida set the pace, aiming to drop both Alaphilippe and Vauquelin. Alaphilippe was dropped shortly before the finish, while Vauquelin remained with Onley, Almeida, and Gall until the closing meters. Vauquelin launched his sprint early but was passed by Onley and Almeida.

On Emmetten, Almeida produced 7.23 ᵉW/kg for 9:32. Gall, having attacked and faced more wind exposure, did 7.2 ᵉW/kg, while Vauquelin, Onley and Alaphilippe were between 7.06 and 7.10 ᵉW/kg.

Vauquelin retained the leader’s jersey with a 33-second margin over Almeida heading into the final stage, a decisive mountain time trial. It is a perfect opportunity for Almeida to secure his third WorldTour GC victory of the season, while Vauquelin could become the first Frenchman to win a WorldTour stage race since Christophe Moreau triumphed at the 2007 Critérium du Dauphiné, a reminder of how rare French GC success has been in the past two decades.

It was the first mountain stage of the U23 Giro d’Italia, showcasing a depth of climbing talent and several standout performances.

One of the most impressive riders in the u23 cohort isPaul Seixas, who at just 18 years old already finished in the top 10 at the Critérium du Dauphiné, further proof of why he holds some of the greatest climbing performances ever recorded in the junior and cadet categories. However he is not in this race and yet the amount of top climbers is still outstanding compared to previous years.

The 2006 birth year is stacked with talent: Lorenzo Finn, Albert Withen Philipsen, Adrià Pericas, and Jakob Omrzel all featured prominently, while Jarno Widar and Jørgen Nordhagen led the way among the 2005 cohort. Top U23 riders born in 2004 and 2003, such as Isaac del Toro and Lenny Martinez, no longer compete in U23 races.

The final climb, Passo del Maniva (10.03 km at 8.02%), was ideal for testing climbing form, although the lead-in was demanding, with a long, shallow section covered at high speed. Lorenzo Finn, the 2024 Junior World Champion, expended 2598 kilojoules over 3:01 hours at a rate of 13.89 kJ/kg/h, making it a tough day of racing for the U23 peloton.

Visma | Lease a Bike Development put all their hopes on Jørgen Nordhagen, who had already impressed on Thyon 2000 in the Tour de Romandie against a world-class field. He attacked multiple times and eventually got a gap, but the GC group, paced by Luke Tuckwell of Red Bull Rookies, kept him within reach. Nordhagen was caught, and soon after, Lorenzo Finn and 2024 race winner Jarno Widar broke away. Widar launched a late attack to take the stage win.

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The overall climbing level was extremely high, especially considering the stage profile and the non-optimal gradients before the final climb. Jarno Widar produced 6.26 ᵉW/kg for 27:38 minutes, or 6.58 ᵉW/kg normalized for altitude, a performance that would have been competitive during the Sky era and worthy of a WorldTour stage win. Even the 9th-placed Filippo Turconi managed 6.07 ᵉW/kg.

Tadej Pogačar continued his dominance on the queen stage of the 2025 Critérium du Dauphiné, dropping Jonas Vingegaard on Montée de Valmeinier and again confirming he is on a different level.

It was the queen stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, featuring three major climbs and a summit finish on Montée de Valmeinier (16.5 km at 6.8%). The stage was exhausting, with the GC group riding at a high pace over the Col de la Madeleine (5.7 ᵉW/kg for 64 minutes) and Col de la Croix de Fer, which sits at high altitude. Emmanuel Buchmann burned 3,282 kilojoules over 3.5 hours at a rate of 15.79 kJ/kg/h, highlighting the intensity of the day.

The stage itself wasn’t particularly eventful. Romain Bardet, caught from the breakaway, reached the summit of Valmeinier 1800 as his father watched live. Visma | Lease a Bike had no answer for Tadej Pogačar, who attacked with 11.9 km to go, this time out of the saddle and clearly exploding harder than on previous stages, successfully dropping Jonas Vingegaard. In the end, Pogačar beat the Dane by only 14 seconds, but that gap was limited because he eased off in the final kilometers, lowering his average power. Florian Lipowitz showed another strong performance, finishing third.

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Pogačar produced a solid effort on Valmeinier 1800, especially considering the conditions. He did 6.53 ᵉW/kg for the full 39:31 climb and 6.74 ᵉW/kg for the 28:26 segment following his attack. His average watts would have been even higher if he hadn’t eased up near the end.

When adjusted for altitude, the performance looks even more impressive: 7.11 ᵉW/kg for 28:26 post-attack and 6.84 ᵉW/kg for the full 39:31. As mentioned in the previous article, Pogačar is still far from his peak form, he is clearly saving his legs for a more serious race and is not pushed to his limit.