As it happened: Evenepoel takes solo win on sombre stage 7 of Tour de Suisse

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 7 of the 2023 Tour de Suisse.

Racing will get back underway today at the Tour de Suisse following yesterday's day of mourning in the peloton after Gino Mäder's death.

Today's stage will see GC times taken at 25km to go (not 18.8km as previously announced), while there will be no time bonuses at intermediate sprints or at the finish.

Bahrain Victorious have understandably taken the decision not to continue in the race today. The squad led the peloton home on Friday's abridged and neutralised ride in honour of Mäder.

Tudor Pro Cycling and Intermarché-Circus-Wanty have also pulled out of the race while Groupama-FDJ and Arkéa-Samsic have announced that they are letting their riders decide whether to continue.

Bahrain Victorious among teams withdrawing from final stages of Tour de Suisse

Soudal-QuickStep have announced that their Swiss rider Mauro Schmid will not be starting today.

Lotto-Dstny's Sylvain Moniquet is also a non-starter with illness.

Just under 10 minutes until the riders start the neutral rollout to begin stage 7.

Today's stage sees GC times taken just before the final climb of the stage, the Ottenberg. From there, riders are free to race for the stage win, though the fight for the general classification will not be affected.

EF Education-EasyPost have announced that two of their riders, Julius van den Berg and Tom Scully, have decided not to take the start today.

The peloton wear black armbands today in memory of Gino Mäder.

Riders have already rolled out to start the neutral zone.

183.5km to go

The flag has dropped and racing is now underway on stage 7.

Arnaud Démare and Miles Scotson of Groupama-FDJ are also among the non-starters today.

A moment of respect at the stage start today.

We now have a full list of riders who haven't taken the start of stage 7 in addition to the full squads of Bahrain Victorious, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty and Tudor.

Stefan Küng, Miles Scotson, Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Julius van den Berg, Tom Scully (EF Education-EasyPost), Michael Schär (AG2R Citroën), Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma), Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates), Matis Louvel, Dan McLay (Arkéa-Samsic), Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), Mauro Schmid (Soudal-QuickStep), Daryl Impey, Krists Neilands, Nicholas Schultz (Israel-Premier Tech), Lennert Van Eetvelt, Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto-Dstny).

160km to go

The peloton is all together at the moment with no attacks or breakaways so far. I can't imagine there's much enthusiasm for it today.

Away from the men's race in Switzerland there's a lot going on today, including the penultimate stages at the Tour of Slovenia, Baloise Belgium Tour, Route d'Occitanie, and Giro Next Gen. The opening stage of the Tour de Suisse Women comes later, while the penultimate stage of the Tour de Beauce is also on today.

The peloton rolling through the early kilometres of today's stage.

Here's what Wout van Aert told CyclingPro this morning.

"It's difficult, of course. Yesterday was a really weird day with a lot of emotions. Everything passed so quickly and it was only at night that you realise what actually happened.

"It's strange to be here again with a number on our back. There will never be a right moment to go on with normal life again. Today will definitely be the hardest day to restart and we'll see how that goes.

"We had quite a short meeting. It was up to everyone personally to make the decision to follow their feelings, their emotions, and how they feel like racing or not. I think it will be clear during the race how the peloton is going through it, if we get a real race or not. We'll wait and see – there are no wrong decisions today."

And here's what Remco Evenepoel told CyclingPro today.

"To ride it, yes. To race is another question. There has been a lot of contact between the teams and the riders and I think everyone wants to finish the race as safe as possible.

"I think we all do it to honour Gino and to honour the kind of person he was and to respect the decision of his family and his team, that they wanted the race to keep going. That's why we're here on the bike again.

"When you think about it, you just feel super sad. It's all really unclear in the head. Always thinking of what could've avoided this crash. The next day the sun comes up again, you have to keep going and focus again on what we have to do now. It's going to take some time to let it sink in and to digest it.

"I think if his family and Bahrain decided to stop the race then we'd respect that but they asked us to race and we also respect that. I think today will be a different kind of race, in a different state of mind with a different mentality. I think only tomorrow will be a real race. Today will feel strange and will not feel natural."

150km to go

As Evenepoel said, it doesn't look like it will be a 'real race' today. The peloton still all together.

138km to go

Now coming up to the first climb of the day, the Rutlenstrasse. It's a first-category climb, 8.1km at 5.6%.

A 43.8kph average speed in the first hour of racing as the peloton heads up the climb.

Trek-Segafredo are leading the way.

The peloton now over the top of the climb, still all together.

127km to go

Down the descent and Trek-Segafredo continue on the front.

The riders now on the valley road following the descent.

Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo) led Alpecin-Deceuninck pair Michael Gogl and Silvan Dillier over the top of the climb.

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The riders heading to the next climb of the day now. 

The next climb is the second-category Eichbergstrasse. It's 5.3km at 6.6%.

On the way up the climb now.

A great gesture by Simon Pellaud as he went on the attack at the Tour of Slovenia today.

105km to go

Not yet at the midway point of the stage today. A 36.5kph average so far.

The peloton out on the road today.

Still all together as the riders head over the top of the Eichbergstrasse.

Rob Hatch on Eurosport reading out Michael Schär's tribute to Gino Mäder. He was riding his final Tour de Suisse this week but decided not to start today's stage.

In loving memory of Gino 

I find myself deeply saddened by your passing, and my heart goes out to your family during this difficult time.

Gino had an extraordinary happy spirit, he was always smiling. Even when we tackled the toughest climb, he would come to me with a smile and share jokes. Though I often struggled to find the breath to respond, he had a remarkable ability to brighten the lives of everyone around him.

Gino was truly unique. He had great ideas to make a meaningful impact in this world, and he succeeded in doing so. His selfless acts of charity dedicated to environmental change left a big impression on me.

Here I express my personal feelings that are leading to my decision of not taking the start in the final two stages of my last Tour de Suisse.

Rest in peace, Gino. You will be deeply missed.

Stage 4 of the Tour of Slovenia has just finished. Read our short report here.

80km to go

No change in the race here. The peloton is all together on the third-category climb of Engishalden.

Trek, Jumbo, Israel, Alpecin all at the front.

A 37kph average so far today, only slightly slower than the slowest schedule despite the lack of racing.

55km to go

Little to report at the moment as the riders head across a lumpy section of the route on the way to the intermediate sprint in Braunau.

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Into the final 50km. It's still Trek-Segafredo and Alpecin-Deceuninck leading the way.

43km to go

Alpecin-Deceuninck lead the way to the intermediate sprint.

Quinten Hermans leads Michael Gogl and James Knox across the sprint point.

36km to go

Just over 10km to go until the GC times are taken and the riders start the final climb.

Just one climb left today, the 3.4km 6.1% Otteneberg.

26km to go

Trek, Jumbo, DSM, Bora all up front as the riders near the 25km GC mark.

All riders will finish with the same time today. Now they're heading onto the climb.

Now Ineos and EF are moving to the front.

An upping of the pace here.

Alpecin-Deceuninck and Trek-Segafredo commanding the peloton earlier on.

22km to go

EF pushing the pace at the front.

They're on the climb now and racing is underway.

Jumbo-Visma now leading it with Wout van Aert in second wheel.

Mick van Dijke leading it.

All lined out at the front.

20km to go

Now Ineos take over as three riders move up there with Van Aert.

A small group at the front now as they continue the climb.

Around 15 men at the front.

A reminder that they're only going for the stage win here. No GC fight in this final run to the line.

Ineos have Pidcock, Narváez, Kwiatkowski up front. Van Aert, Evenepoel also in there.

DSM's Kevin Vermaerke nipped out to lead the way over the top of the climb.

17km to go

Evenepoel pushes on at the front at the start of the descent.

Welay Berhe (Jayco-AlUla) tried to go with him but couldn't keep up.

Evenepoel now solo at the front with a few seconds of a gap.

12km to go

Evenepoel almost goes the wrong way at a roundabout but he quickly corrects and continues on solo.

No time gaps just yet but he's got a decent lead.

Nine men in the chase. Van Aert, Pidcock, Kwiatkowski, Narváez, Honoré, Powless, Grégoire, Berhe, Vermaerke.

Into the final 10km and there's some organisation in the chase.

30 seconds for Evenepoel!

7km to go

A great effort from the world champion and he's only growing his advantage.

6km to go

45 seconds now.

The next group on the road is 1:40 down.

4km to go

It's been another great solo ride by Evenepoel to round out the day. He'll certainly win the stage today.

Evenepoel making his move earlier.

2km to go

48 seconds for him now.

Powless tries a move from the swelled chase group.

1km to go

It's almost over for the world champion as he gestures to the sky.

Evenepoel comes into the final metres.

He points to the sky for Gino Mäder as he comes home.

0km

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) wins stage 7 of the Tour de Suisse

Now a sprint among the chase group for the podium spots.

Van Aert took second place there.

It looks like Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) took third just ahead of Lorrenzo Manzin (TotalEnergies).

The 44th win of Evenepoel's career, though he'll remain at 46 seconds down on Mattias Skjelmose heading into tomorrow's final time trial.

Evenepoel takes the win.

The results of today's stage.

Here's what Evenepoel had to say to CyclingPro after the stage.

"It was clear for all of you as well that the race was kind of neutralised until 25km to go. Then everybody was free to race and we had the plan for Tim Merlier to get over the climb and try to sprint. But the climb was very hard. Wout and his team went super hard on the climb.

"First I wanted to help Tim and Bert over the climb but they quickly screamed at me that I had to go myself, that they saw I was looking very good. I'm not the kind of guy that just quits the race even though the sirtutaion is very, very hard for everybody. In my opinion, this was the best way to honour Gino."

Tour de Suisse: Remco Evenepoel wins a muted stage 7

Bahrain Victorious opt not to start as racing continues after a day of mourning following Gino Mäder's death

Remco Evenepoel – 'This was the best way to honour Gino'

Belgian pays tribute to Gino Mäder after taking solo victory on stage 7 of the Tour de Suisse

That's all from us today on live coverage at the Tour de Suisse. Be sure to check back for more tomorrow and check out our reports on the Tour de Suisse Women and the Tour de Beauce later today.