Tour de Suisse 2025 – Analysing the contenders

While the focus of the cycling world is fully on the Critérium du Dauphiné and the three Tour de France favourites going head to head, the other key warm-up event for the biggest race of the year is just around the corner, the Tour de Suisse.

Starting the same day the Dauphié finishes, the Tour de Suisse is the final WorldTour stage race before the Tour starts, meaning for several would-be overall hopefuls, it is the last chance to get that desired race rhythm into the legs and convert the hard yards at altitude into real race shape.

With Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel all opting to race on the other side of the border in France, the startlist could seem to be lacking that real superstar quality, but there are a host of important players for the Tour set to make their mark in Switzerland. 

Notably, last year's runner-up and two-time stage winner at Suisse, João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who finished fourth at last year's Tour, will be on the start line in Küssnacht as the heavy favourite, before he supports Pogačar less than a month later.

The eight days of tough racing will conclude with a climbing individual time trial to Stockhütte, where the overall winner and successor to Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) will be decided. 

Cyclingnews has combed through the start list to analyse the main contenders for victory, the podium, and the top 10 at the Tour de Suisse ahead of the race start on Sunday.

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

With GC victories already this season at the Tour de Romandie and Itzulia Basque Country, João Almeida is the big favourite to add another overall victory to his palmarès at the Tour de Suisse next week. 

He was arguably the strongest rider last season, alongside his teammate Adam Yates, as Almeida won two stages, but ultimately finished 22 seconds down. With the Brit not present in 2025 after racing the Giro, the Portuguese rider should be UAE Team Emirates-XRG's sole leader.

Almeida has only improved this year from his already high level, which brought him fourth place overall at the Tour last year, taking five wins already in 2025, all at WorldTour-level. Not to mention that he's been absolutely flying in training, too.

Provisionally, he's expected to be supported across the eight stages by Jan Christen, Jay Vine, Mikkel Bjerg, Vegard Stake Laengen, Pablo Torres and Felix Großschartner, looking to continue UAE's overall dominance of the calendar.

Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla)

One rider searching for his previous top form from Sunday on will be Ben O'Connor, with the Australian being well away from his best so far in 2025.

Since joining the Australian team Jayco AlUla at the start of the season, O'Connor has been unable to kick on from his second-place finishes at both the Vuelta a España and World Championships road race at the back-end of last season.

But that doesn't mean he isn't still one of the top riders in the peloton, and should he have rediscovered that level, ahead of racing the Tour de France, O'Connor could be well in the fight for the overall victory. 

With top stage race results of 10th, 12th and 14th this season, the Australian will want to show the work he put in up at Sierra Nevada in May was a success, and how he races the Tour de Suisse should be the biggest indicator of that.

Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)

Felix Gall will lead Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale at the Tour de Suisse next week, just across the border from his native Austria, and he'll be using it as his final build-up for the Tour de France as he has done for the past two seasons. 

His last race at the Tour of the Alps saw him finish fifth overall, but the four riders who finished above him were all towards the end of their preparation for the Giro d'Italia, so expect Gall to be in better shape at the Tour de Suisse. 

Gall knows this race well, having won a stage here in 2023 on debut, and pushed that initial success through to eighth overall, both accomplishments which he matched at his first Tour in the subsequent July.

His three WorldTour stage race performances in 2025 brought nothing in the way of results, either not finishing or ending well outside the top 10 on GC, but that top five in South Tyrol suggests that Gall's best could be right around the corner.

Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL)

Another young GC prospect hoping for more progress in Switzerland is Picnic PostNL's Oscar Onley, with the Brit looking to improve on a "disappointing spring", as he described it, ahead of the Tour de France. 

Onley started 2025 positively, finishing fourth overall at the Tour Down Under, and following this up with fourth on GC behind the likes of Pogačar at the UAE Tour. However, his results at Itzulia Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie went in the wrong direction, with ninth and 16th overall.

It's his second time racing the Tour de Suisse, after a 2024 debut, and he'll be hoping to again finish inside the top and climb well enough across the eight days to do even better. 

At 22, Onley is continuing to develop as a GC rider and will have help from the experience of former Tour de Suisse podium-sitter Warren Barguil to help him in Switzerland.

Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers)

Few riders in the peloton have maintained the old-school system of peaking that Geraint Thomas operates with, and as his final Tour de France appearance nears, it's about time the Welshman kicks back into GC mode. 

Thomas has been riding for others throughout the start of his final year before retirement, as one of the most experienced riders in the bunch and a true leader for Ineos Grenadiers. 

While this has meant for GC results that you may not expect to see from a former Tour de France winner, Thomas always shows up for the big appointments, as shown in last year's Giro d'Italia, where he took third. 

Thomas last rode the Tour de Suisse in 2022, when he claimed the GC victory and kicked on at the Tour to finish third behind only Vingegaard and Pogačar. Now 39, he'll have his work cut out challenging Almeida for the win, but expect to see more of Thomas' real level as he does the fine-tuning for the Tour. 

Junior Lecerf and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep)

With Mikel Landa out of the Tour de France, Remco Evenepoel's support in the mountains could be looking light, and with no concrete information about the Belgian squad's Tour roster out yet, Soudal-QuickStep will be looking for others to step up.

Among those could be Junior Lecerf and Ilan Van Wilder, two fellow young Belgians who have stepped up as GC riders this season.

The former has improved dramatically, taking eighth at both the UAE Tour and Tour de Romandie, with Evenepoel helping him in the latter after his gradual return from injury in April.

Van Wilder has long been beside Evenepoel in races, and after his solid sixth place at Itzulia Basque Country, has shown great progress at 25. Between him and Lecerf, Soudal-QuickStep will be looking to back up how Evenepoel performs in the Dauphiné with a strong ride by his possible climbing domestiques. 

Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)

Aleksandr Vlasov will lead Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's ambitions in Switzerland, but while he has long been a top contender for one-week WorldTour races, 2025 has seen the Russian away from his best. 

Granted, he has been riding for teammates on occasion, but Vlasov has nonetheless failed to finish higher than 17th on GC at any of his stage race appearances, with his last race in Romandie ending with a 24th overall.

Florian Liopwitz looks set to be Primož Roglič's key mountain helper as it stands, as he continues to impress at the Dauphiné, but Vlasov's history suggests that he could yet step up into that role.

Vlasov has, after all, finished in the top 10 of three Grand Tours and was producing top GC results as recently as last year's Dauphiné, but Suisse will need to see him bounce back significantly before much is expected of him at the Tour.

Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek)

Mattias Skjelmose was due to be Lidl-Trek's leader at the Tour de Suisse next week, but after stomach infection already forced him out of the Dauphiné, the Dane announced yesterday that he would not be racing in Switzerland either.

With that in mind, Lidl-Trek as a team have fallen down this contenders list, with Tao Geoghegan Hart set to lead on his own, without Skjelmose.

Despite his palmarès of course featuring an overall victory at the Giro d'Italia, Geoghegan Hart has been on a long road back to top form ever since the 2023 Giro, where he suffered a complex leg injury.

The Brit is building up for a return to the Tour de France, where he should co-lead the American team alongside Skjelmose, so will be looking for a solid result at Suisse.

He's been growing in shape for the past few months, with his latest result of third at the Tour of Slovenia suggesting an upward curve in anticipation of his first Tour de France appearance since 2021.

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious)

It's a bit of an unknown how Pello Bilbao will fare at the Tour de Suisse, given how it will be his first race back since completing a gruelling three weeks at the Giro d'Italia. 

However, the Spanish rider clearly wasn't riding for GC in Italy, dropping out of contention very early on, before supporting Damiano Caruso to a fifth place overall.

Bilbao started the season with a series of strong GC performances, finishing third in Valenciana and the UAE Tour, before also taking ninth in Tirreno Adriatico as teammate Antonio Tiberi netted a podium in third. 

He shouldn't be counted out, as one of the top  Grand Tour riders in the peloton, but as it's unlikely that he'll do the Tour after racing the Giro, his ambitions could be different to several of those above him on the contenders list. 

Honourable mentions

Beyond those established GC hopefuls, there are several outsiders and young prospects who will be eyeing a top result in Switzerland. 

All under 23, Romain Gregoire (FDJ-Suez), Joseph Blackmore and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) will be among them, after all showing signs throughout 2025 and the former even taking a first WorldTour win in the Basque Country. 

Movistar will be hopeful that either Tour Down Under runner-up Javier Romo or Vuelta a España breakthrough star Pablo Castrillo can upset the favourites.

Finally, several teammates of the big favourites could also be in the fight for the podium or top five, notably Jan Christen and Jay Vine on UAE, and Geoghegan Hart at Lidl-Trek.

Outside of the GC battle, top riders Marc Hirschi, Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) will be present with the ambition of winning a stage and getting some intensity in the legs before the Tour, with Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) and Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) starting as the top sprinters.