As it happened: Stage 7 of Tour de Suisse comes down to sprint between GC favourites

Hello and welcome to CyclingNews' live report of the seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse 2025.

Today's stage is the final road stage of the race with the brutal mountain time trial closing proceedings tomorrow.

But this stage could still be key in the fight for the overall title with 207.3km of racing on the menu between Neuhausen and Emmetten. Only three categorised climbs but there are plenty of others along the way.

The neutral zone is due to begin in around 10 minutes and is 5.4km long today.

Today's temperature in Neuhausen is 24°C with an expected peak of 27°C. Thanks to the Alps, Switzerland are getting nothing like some of the heat the rest of Europe is facing at the moment.

The jersey wearers going into today are:

Yellow, GC - Kévin Vauquelin (FRA) Arkea-B&B Hotels
Black, Points - João Almeida (POR) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
Red, KoM - Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
White, Young rider - Kévin Vauquelin (FRA) Arkea-B&B Hotels*

*Worn by - Oscar Onley (GBR) Picnic-PostNL

Neutral start

The riders have set off on their neutralised zone of 5.4km in Neuhausen. They've completed sign on and are now on the road.

A few issues for riders in the neutral zone. Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) has been back at the car sorting an problem and Jonas Gregaard (Lotto) has had a mechanical. Both back in the bunch.

207.3km to go

The official start has been given. Racing begins for stage seven of the Tour de Suisse 2025.

There is a long wait before any mountain sprint or intermediate sprint with the first coming after just over 100km of racing, the category two climb of Schwändi, 3km long with an average gradient of 8.9% and a max of 23.7%.

Multiple attacks coming from the bunch as the fight to form the morning breakaway begins.

Crash!

Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech)

He is back on his bike and in the peloton again but not the ideal start for the young American climber.

DNSs today:

Jodri Meeus (BEL) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Petr Keleman (CZE) Tudor
Andrea Bagioli (ITA) Lidl-Trek

After 10km of racing there is no sign of a break forming despite a plethora of attacks coming from the bunch.

A group has a small gap over a peloton.

Multiple groups are now off the front of the peloton as the break continues to try and form. No names confirmed as of yet.

All back together again. The fight begins all over again.

The pace is extremely high after 25km of racing. Yet more attacks coming from the bunch.

A group of about 20 riders have 30" gap on the chasing peloton.

Once again, the attackers are caught. However, the pace is so high that the bunch has split in two!

180km to go

Into the final 180km and the average speed is 45.2kph.

A group of about 15 riders are now just ahead of the first part of the peloton. One rider in the lead group is stage one 3rd place, Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike). He is now almost 14 minutes down in GC.

The group including Lemmen have been caught by the first part of the peloton but there is still part of the bunch off the back by around 50".

More attacks come as the riders continue to force a breakaway.

Attack!

Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek)
Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
William Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep)
Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla)
Frank van den Broek (Picnic-PostNL)
Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech)
Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike)

They have a very small advantage over the peloton.

It looks like the seven man break may have gone as they now have 40" on the peloton led by UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

The break now has over a minute. They have finally been let go by the peloton. This now gives an chance to the riders who went out of the back when the peloton split to get back in as well. They are currently still 50" down.

The riders are around 65km from the first KoM of the day, the Schwändi.

150km to go

The two pelotons have now reformed and have settled into the race about a minute and a half behind the breakaway.

The break now have over two minutes on the peloton.

140km to go

Now the pace drops and the breakaway are allowed to go, the focus turns to the GC teams with UAE Team Emirates-XRG leading the bunch with Almeida being the man clearly looking to take the lead today. He is being shadowed everywhere by yellow jersey, Vauquelin, though.

The peloton are letting the gap to the break slowly drift out but not too far. They currently have 2'40" between the two groups.

Abandon:

Sjoerd Bax (NED) Q36.5 Pro Cycling

He is the fifth rider to leave the race today.

Another abandon:

Steven Kruijswijk (Visma-Lease a Bike)

The Dutch veteran leaves the race. He did race the whole Giro so probably has very tired legs. Ups the abandon list to 6 for today.

110km to go

The gap to the break goes above 3'30" for the first time today. Just over 10km to the first KoM of the day.

The gap is now starting to reduce with just over three minutes splitting the break and the peloton.

100km to go

Gap goes back out to 3'40".

Onto the Schwändi climb they go. Just 3km long but this category 2 climb packs a punch. Average gradient of 8.9% with a max kicker of 23.7%.

Arkea-B&B Hotels and Tudor have joined UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the front of the peloton working for Vauqulin, Alaphilippe and Almeida.

Crash!

Thomas Gloag (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Bob Jungels (Ineos Grenadiers)
Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

After his crash right at the start of the day, Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) is struggling to hold onto the back of the peloton.

KoM (Schwändi)

1. Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe 6pts
2. Quinn Simmons (USA) Lidl-Trek 4pts
3. Hugo Houle (CAN) Israel-Premier Tech 3pts
4. Frank van den Broek (NED) Picnic-PostNL 2pts
5. Tiesj Benoot (BEL) Visma-Lease a Bike 1pt

The action comes thick and fast now as the Tissot Kilometre nears for the riders.

Abandon:

Albert Torres (Movistar)

The seventh of the day.

Abandons:

Jasha Sütterlin (GER) Jayco-AlUla
Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech
Simon Clarke (AUS) Israel-Premier Tech

Tissot KM

Sprint one:

1. Quinn Simmons (USA) Lidl-Trek 3"
2. Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe 2"
3. William Junior Lecerf (BEL) Soudal-QuickStep 1"

Sprint two:

1. Tiesj Benoot (BEL) Visma-Lease a Bike 3"
2. Hugo Houle (CAN) Israel-Premier Tech 2"
3. Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe 1"

More abandons:

Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
Alessandro Verre (Arkea-B&B Hotels)
Nolann Mahoudo (Cofidis)
Roel van Sintmaartensdijk (Intermarche-Wanty)

70km to go

The gap has plummeted to just over two minutes between the break and peloton as they're about to begin the long descent to the valley bottom.

One more abandon:

Roger Adrià (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)

The race is going passed the beautiful lake of Zugersee. Then they will get to the even larger Vierwaldstatttersee lake with the finish coming just on a climb next to the lake.

Intermediate sprint (Kussnacht)

1. Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe 6pts
2. Hugo Houle (CAN) Israel-Premier Tech 4pts
3. Felix Engelhardt (GER) Jayco-AlUla 2pts
4. William Junior Lecerf (BEL) Soudal-QuickStep 1pt

40km to go

The pace has really gone up in the peloton with UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Tudor flying on the front of the bunch with the gap dropping to 1'17".

Really big crowds in Luzern. The whole city looks to have come out for the stage.

The gap between the break and the peloton has dropped under a minute.

30km to go

The break are working very hard and have pushed the gap back out to 1'36".

They are just under 5km from the base of the penultimate climb of the day, the 5.5km Bürgenstock. It has an average gradient of 7.8% with a max kick of 11.2%.

Onto the Bürgenstock climb thy go with a gap of 53".

Attack in break

Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek)

With Vlasov and Van den Broek reacting first with Houle trying to stay with them. Simmons goes solo.

In the peloton, Tudor lead with Alaphilippe in second wheel. Vauquelin following close behind whereas Almeida is a few wheels back going his own pace, as is his style.

Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale now take over the pacing for Felix Gall with Alaphilippe dropping back a few wheels.

Van den Broek and Houle drop Vlasov in the chase group just behind Simmons.

The peloton is being absolutely shredded by the Decathlon-AG2R rider working for Gall. Only about 8 riders left in the main GC group.

20km to go

Simmons holds 29" on the GC group.

Attack!

Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale)

He is being followed by Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) and Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels).

However, Almeida and Alaphilippe come back to the yellow jersey and then to Gall and Onley.

Only Simmons is left out front now with Gall, Alaphilippe, Almeida, Vauquelin and Onley rapidly closing the gap.

Van den Broek is coming back to the GC riders, though. That will be great news for Onley.

Simmons has been caught. Van den Broek is turning himself inside out to try and get back to this front group.

Van den Broek now is back in the lead group. Hands some ice and water to his leader, Onley, and goes to the front to set a strong pace as they try to hold off the rest of the GC riders who are 30" off the back.

Frank van den Broek seems to be absolutely superb at turning himself inside out for a teammate. We saw it at the Tour de France last year with Romain Bardet and now we're seeing it again with Oscar Onley.

KoM (Bürgenstock)

1. Van den Broek (TPP) 6pts
2. Onley (TPP) 4pts
3. Vauquelin (ARK) 3pts
4. Almeida (UAD) 2pts
5. Gall (AUT) 1pt

Simmons has dropped back to help his team leader, Lennard Kämna, who is in the second group just about 25" down.

10km to go

Just 20" between the leading group led by Van den Broek and the chasing group led by Simmons.

All of the GC riders are, understandably, leaning on Van den Broek as he works for Onley. But, he is pulling out more time on the chasing group again with 8km to go.

5km to go

Van den Broek drags the gap back out to 28" with his leader as well as four other key GC riders ahead of the 13 man group behind.

Onto the final climb of Emmetten up to the finish. 3.9km long with an average of 8.3% and a max of 10.2%.

Van den Broek is done and Almeida takes up the pacing. Behind, Simmons is also done with his work for Kamna in the chase just 24" down.

Attack!

Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale)

The Austrian climbing star launches with 3km to go and Almeida just settled into his pacing. Gall is no threat at +2'20" down on Vauquelin.

Gall looks smooth but he keeps looking back at the quad of GC stars just 6" down on him.

In the chasing group, Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) is pushing on to try and get across with a few others.

O'Connor is with Kamna, Champoussin and Grossschartner but they are not closing in on the leaders.

Onley comes through to help Almeida in the chase of Gall and just 7" splits them inside 2km to go.

Almeida now pushing very hard and is about to drag Gall back yet again as Alaphilippe can't stay with the pace an longer.

Flamme Rouge!

Almeida drags Gall back and drops 2nd place Alaphilippe for now but Onley and Vauquelin are still with him.

There was a brief stalling and Alaphilippe is close to getting back on but Onley sees his chance and that sees the former word champion properly dropped.

Wow! Alaphilippe is back! He gets into the wheel of Vauquelin and we are back up to a group of five with 600 metres to go.

Attack!

Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels)

The yellow jersey goes with Onley!

João Almeida of UAE Team Emirates-XRG wins stage 7 of the Tour de Suisse men 2025 in a vicious sprint to the line.

Oscar Onley of Picnic-PostNL also managed to get around Kévin Vauquelin of Arkea-B&B Hotels despite his late attack. What a finale.

Stage 7 top 10

1. João Almeida (POR) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 4:38'25"
2. Oscar Onley (GBR) Picnic-PostNL
3. Kévin Vauquelin (FRA) Arkea-B&B Hotels all S.T.
4. Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale +4"
5. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Tudor +8"
6. Felix Großschartner (AUT) UAE Team Emirates-XRG +1'07"
7. Joe Blackmore (GBR) Israel-Premier Tech
8. Ilan Van Wilder (BEL) Soudal-QuickStep
9. Clément Champoussin (FRA) XDS-Astana
10. Lennard Kämna (GER) Lidl-Trek all S.T.

GC after stage 7

1. Kévin Vauquelin (FRA) Arkea-B&B Hotels 29:00'55"
2. João Almeida (POR) UAE Team Emirates-XRG +33"
3. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Tudor +41"
4. Oscar Onley (GBR) Picnic-PostNL +1'19"
5. Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale +2'28"
6. Lennard Kämna (GER) Lidl-Trek +2'55"
7. Ben O'Connor (AUS) Jayco-AlUla +3'27"
8. Pablo Castrillo (ESP) Movistar +4'25"
9. Ilan Van Wilder (BEL) Soudal-QuickStep +4'28"
10. Clément Champoussin (FRA) XDS-Astana +6'05"

Make sure to head over to our post race report to catch up with all the analysis...

>>> Tour de Suisse: João Almeida fastest on uphill final to win stage 7 in Emmetten