Favorites stage 1 Tour of Switzerland 2025 | Just a stone’s throw from Vollering's home, both the men and women finish

The first stage of the Tour de Suisse starts and finishes in Küssnacht, where the women will finish their edition of the race earlier in the day. This means the men can sleep a little longer after the team presentation on Friday evening.

They will not start until 2:30 PM local time, which is possible due to the length of this first stage. The stage is 129 kilometers long and is divided into two laps between Lake Zug and Lake Lucerne.

The climb to Michaelskreuz is central to this stage and must be tackled in both the opening and closing phases. With a length of 3.8 kilometers and an average gradient of 8.9 percent, it will delight punchers and climbers.

After 24.5 kilometers, the first passage could prove crucial in forming a strong breakaway. Just fifteen kilometers from the finish, a group of climbers could gain some advantage after 114.7 kilometers. From then on, it is mainly downhill to the finish, except for a small climb towards Meggen (home of Demi Vollering).

Climbs
6.5 km: Adligenwilerstrasse (1.7 km a 6.2%)
24.5 km: Michaelskreuz (3.8 km a 8.9%)
96.7 km: Adligenwilerstrasse (1.7 km a 6.2%)
114.7 km: Michaelskreuz (3.8 km a 8.9%)

Times
Start: 2:30 PM local time (08:30 AM EDT)
Finish: 5:30 PM local time (11:30 AM EDt)

It is also warm in Switzerland this week, but the riders may get some rain on Sunday afternoon. The wind is not too strong.

It looks like we can expect the punchers and climbers on Sunday, although it is still a guessing game about how the stage will unfold. An early breakaway is also possible, but we don't often see that in the opening stage of a WorldTour race.

So, we largely depend on the pure climbers' race tactics. If someone like Joao Almeida wants to show how good he is in stage one, there will be little chance against the man from UAE-Emirates XRG. However, that team can also count on the presence of the fast Jan Christen, whom they would love to see win a stage and the overall victory in his own country.

Christen will have to contend with similar types, such as Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Roger Adria (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost). On Friday, he already faced the latter two in the GP Gippingen, where Powless won and Christen finished third.

Judging by the hill classics, we will also see riders such as Tiesj Benoot (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Joe Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) at the start, as well as the Tudor duo Marc Hirschi and Julian Alaphilippe, who have been disappointing so far this season. In addition, there are some crafty Spaniards such as Pablo Castrillo, Javier Romo (Movistar), and Bahrain's Pello Bilbao.

Finally, there are a few GC contenders who will be in contention: Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) and Ilan Van Wilder of Soudal Quick-Step. And who knows, maybe an early breakaway will succeed, with Frank van den Broek, Bart Lemmen, or Matej Mohoric, for example.  

Top favorites: Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) and Jan Christen (UAE Emirates-XRG)
Outsiders: Joao Almeida (UAE Emirates-XRG), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)
Long shots: Roger Adria (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Javier Romo (Movistar), Tiesj Benoot (Visma | Lease a Bike), Marc Hirschi, Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Joe Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) and Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL)