As it happened: EF Education outwit the sprinters and catch Quinn Simmons to win Tour de Suisse stage 2 finish

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse!

As the riders line-up in Aarau, there is news that 149 will race on today. There are two non-starters.

The two non-starters are Max van der Meulen(Bahrain-Victorious) and Anton Palzer (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

There was a storm and gusts of winds on Sunday afternoon but early summer weather has returned to central Switzerland today.

The riders are in the 4.9km neutralised sector and then face the rolling 177km of racing.

There is some debate about who will and who can win today's stage. It is far from flat but the valley road to the finish could see some sprinters and fast finishers survive.

If Mads Pedersen was riding the Tour de Suisse, it would be a perfect stage for the Dane.

They're off! The flag has dropped and the stage is underway. As expected their are immediate attacks.

Stage 1 saw a surprise split in the peloton, with Romain Grégoire showing his descending skills in the rain.

The Frenchman broke away from a splintered breakaway and managed to hold off Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease a Bike), and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) to secure the victory.

Click here to read our full stage report.

Three riders have a gap but others are trying. to go across to them.

Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla).

The peloton has slowed, we could have the break of the day.

The opening 100km of the stage are on largely flat roads as the stage passes through the Emmental area. The hills come later on two loops

The trio now have a lead of 2:05 after the peloton let them go.

Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) are a dangerous trio.

The break climbs the 1.9km Linden hill but will get to enjoy the descent. They are naturally working together to extend their lead on the peloton.

Australia's Ben O’Connor, took advantage of the aggressive racing during stage 1 and joined the 29-rider break that included his Jayco-AlUla teammates Luke Durbridge and Felix Engelhardt.

The Western Australian was able to gain over two minutes on his major GC rivals, including João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

“A pretty crazy day actually. I didn't really expect to find myself off the front with Durbo and Felix. But in the end, we actually made some pretty huge ground on GC with a bit of an opportunistic move,” O’Connor said via team social media.

Click here to see what O'Connor did and said.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are leading the chase of the three attackers. They clearly want a shot at the stage victory today and no doubt better control of the attackers than yesterday.

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was one of the GC time losers on stage 1. He spoke t our friends at Pro Cycling Net at the start of stage 2.

João Almeida - Interview at the start - Stage 2 - Tour de Suisse 2025 - YouTube

Watch On

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Picnic-PostNL are leading the chase of the trio up front, pegging their lead to 1:55. The first hour of racing was covered at a fast 48.5km/h.

The trio are Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla).

This is our breakaway trio of Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla)

With the help of PicNic, the attackers' lead is down to 1:20. The stage could change very soon.

Romain Grégoire won stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse and so is racing stage 2 in the leader's yellow jersey.

With the sun out and temperatures around 23C, riders are dropping back to team cars to collect cold bidons for their teammates.

110km to go

Th trio of Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) are fighting back against the chase. The gap is back up to 1:30.

It was a busy weekend of racing. To catch-up what happened at the Critérium du Dauphiné. read our full stage report.

Click here to see what happened with these two.

The peloton is cruelly keeping the attackers under tight control. They hare holding the gap at 1:30, so that they can be quickly pulled back in the final part of the stage.

The riders are to passing to the south of Berne now and so soon approaching Schwarzsee where they will begin the hillier loops.

It was a popular home win for Marlen Reusser (Movistar) at the Tour de Suisse Women.

The 33-year-old Swiss allrounder won the final stage to seal her GC victory. 28 seconds down, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) beat Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) in the sprint for second place, but Vollering finishes overall runner-up, 36 seconds down, ahead of Niewiadoma-Phinney, who finishes 1:56 off Reusser.

Click here to read our full stage report.

All change! The peloton is suddnely just 30 seconds down on the attackers.

The gap is like a piece of elastic. It keeps shortening and then lengthening again. It is now up to 55 seconds.

80km to go

The time has flown, as have the riders on the attack. Their lead is back up to 1:25.

It's a great day to ride a bike in Switzerland.

This photo perhaps explains the earlier and short-lived time loss. The break was held up at a level crossing.

It's been a quiet and relaxed day in the peloton for race leader Romain Grégoire.

70km to go

The stage now changes significantly, with far more climbing on the road to the finish in Schwarzsee.

The riders go through the feed zone and they can see the climbs ahead of them. Indeed the peloton seems on edge for the racing to come.

As well as PicNic and Red Bull, Lidl-Trek are also massing at the front of the peloton.

Jan Christen (UAE) was one of the riders caught behind the split on stage 1. He also crashed, suffering some road rash.

The Tour de Suisse is an uphill battle for the UAE tram, in every sense of the word.

60km to go

Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) just rolled through the intermediate sprint point after 117km.

They've upped the pace now as they try to extend their lead on the peloton. It is now 1:30.

The race starts the Guggisberg climb and sadly Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has been distanced.

Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) do not show any mercy and push on.

Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) seems to be hurting Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) on the final part of the climb.

The race is definitely on now!

Behind the peloton has split, with a first group at 1:10 and the Romain Grégoire group 20 seconds behind.

Mauro Schmid leads over the Guggisberg climb and pushes on. He is riding on pride as the Swiss national champion.

50km to go

Felix Engelhardt (Team Jayco AlUla) jumped from the peloton to take fourth on the climb as he fights to keep the red climber's jersey.

Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) dive down the descent but the peloton is hunting them down.

Tudor is riding on the front now, perhaps for Julian Alaphilippe who was so good yesterday, but also for Marc Hirschi, who could be a big threat in a reduced sprint finish.

As the race hits the short ut steep climb to Heitenried, the gap is down to 1:05. The peloton is lined out at speed.

Tudor is working for Alaphiippe and Hirschi while also trying to hurt their rival sprinters.

Romain Grégoire is still there as the gap falls to just 35 seconds.

30km to go

Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) grab a final bidon and push on but their lead is down to 35 seconds.

The peloton can smell them and see them too. Their only chance is if the peloton hesitates a little. Schmid is not holding back, that's for sure.

The two late intermediate sprinst also offers a second to the peloton and so Groupama lead out Romain Grégoire in the first sprint. Then the other teams take over for the second sprint, with Engelhardt sweeping up the bonus second.

25km to go

The rolling roads is helping the brrak stay away. The gap is still 30 seconds.

The gap is up to 45 seconds. Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) can start to hope he he has a chance.

20km to go

Picnic are now riding on the front, working for their fast finisher Pavel Bittner.

Attack! Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) goes solo but the peloton can see him.

Indeed the attacks have started behind too.

15km to go

Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) is caught, the race is back together but only for an instant.

EF Education take over on the front, trying to control any attacks. That's a huge task.

There are at least 100 riders in the peloton.

10km to go

There is a slight dip in the road before the final valley road that leads up to the finish in Schwarzsee.

Could it be a day for Arnaud Del Lie of Lotto?

EF, Lotto and Q36.5 are massing up front now, while Picnic come up on the left of the road.

The gradient is hurting more now with 4km to go.

Everyone is suffering as the sprinters try to survive the climb and hope for easier gradients near the finish.

The riders are lined out but still packed close.

Attack! Jan Christen of UAE attacks!

The talented young Swiss rider has a gap but can he hold it to the finish?

Christen leads by 5 seconds as the final km begins.

Ineos are working to close the gap.

Attack by Quinn Simmons!

The US champion leads it out.

Simmons was caught and used as a lead out. Vincenzo Albanese of EF came up along the barriers to win the stage!

That is Albanese's first win for EF after joining the American team for 2025.

It is only Albanese's third career win, his last came back in 2022.

It was excellent execution for Albanese. He surged to sit on the riders who chased down Quinn Simmons and then kicked to the left along the barriers to win the sprint. Lewis Askey was strong and chased Simmons after Alaphilippe struggled but then could only finish third.

Romain Grégoire is still the race leader.

Results - Tour de Suisse Stage 2

This is the moment Vincenzo Albanese celebrates his Tour de Suisse victory.

Vincenzo Albanese spoke about his win.

"This is my first WorldTour victory in this fantastic race in Switzerland. I'm very, very happy. Thanks to all my team, who did a fantastic job in the final kilometres. I'm very happy," the Italian said.

"I felt good from the start of the stage. My goal was to lead out Madis Mihkels but in the last kilometre Simmons and other guys attacked. I followed and saw the 200 metre sign and so I went full to the line."

This is the moment Vincenzo Albanese won the sprint.

Stage 1 winner Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) finished 21st and so held onto the overall lead of the race and kept the yellow jersey.

He even extended his advantage to Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) by sprinting to one bonus second at the first Tissot sprint.

To read our full stage report and see the best selection of race photographs. Click here

Swiss riders Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) and Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) were joined by Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) in the attack of the day but they were never alllowed to open a major gap and so were reeled in before the gradual climb to the finish.

Tuesday's third stage at the Tour de Suisse could be much like today.

The 195.6km stage is from Aarau to Heiden. Instead of hwading south via Berne, the stage goes east to the edge of Lake Constance to finish in the hills at the spa resort.

Join us for full live coverge of all the action.