Almeida crowned King of Tour de Suisse after impressive climb time trial

Until then, João Almeida had proved to be the strongest climber, but the leader Kévin Vauquelin's lead in stage 1 was still alive. The Portuguese rider took the victory on the previous day, but it did not produce the differences he had hoped for. The decision would come in the climbing time trial, a grueling 10 kilometers at an average gradient of 9%.

The riders were divided into starting blocks. The first man to set a target time was Sylvain Moniquet. The Belgian from Cofidis, who had worn the mountain jersey for a while in the Giro d'Italia, completed the time trial in 30 minutes and 42 seconds. After the break, however, it was the surprising Harry Sweeny who smashed the time. The Australian from EF Education - EasyPost was 1.14 minutes faster than the Belgian, setting what appeared to be a razor-sharp time.

The first big names struggled to match the performance of the 26-year-old climber. António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) was 47 seconds behind, and even Pello Bilbao was significantly slower. The Spaniard from Bahrain Victorious set the second fastest time but was 33 seconds slower. It was then time to wait for the final starting block, where the top favorites for the stage and overall victory would appear.

But even in that last starting block, few could match Sweeny, who had really pushed hard uphill. Lorenzo Fortunato, Frank van den Broek, Aleksandr Vlasov, and Ben O'Connor fell short. It would take the absolute best to beat the Australian's time. At the halfway point, Felix Gall and Almeida had already set a top time, while Vauquelin was 21 seconds behind the Portuguese rider: it would be a tense battle.

Gall had timed the climb perfectly and showed that Sweeny could be beaten: he was a minute and a half faster than the Australian. On the final stretch, he gained over a minute on the man in the hot seat for so long. He had overtaken Lennard Kämna in his attempt, but Almeida had also caught Julian Alaphilippe. Oscar Onley, fourth in the GCs, rode a decent time trial but conceded three-quarters of a minute to the Austrian. That was enough to secure him a spot on the podium.

All eyes were on Almeida and Vauquelin. Gall showed that a strong second half could be hugely advantageous. Could Vauquelin hold off the flying Portuguese? The time set by the Austrian from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale seemed out of reach, but nothing could be further from the truth. With almost half a minute to spare, he won the stage and secured the GC: Vauquelin collapsed in the final kilometers and lost more than a minute and a half to Almeida.