Strong Onley wins Queen Stage in Switzerland as Almeida gains time and Vauquelin takes leader’s jersey

Grégoire managed to keep his leader's jersey on Wednesday, but that would be anything but easy on Thursday. The 183.8-kilometer stage featured some tricky climbing, which Almeida was eager to take advantage of to make up more time on his rivals. The start was flat for a short while, but after about fifteen kilometers, the Julier Pass (7.3 kilometers at 6.5%) was the first climb on the program.

A dozen riders broke away in the run-up to the climb, and at one point, the group even expanded to twenty riders, but only five remained in front at the top. With Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Javier Romo (Movistar), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana), we saw a pretty strong leading group enter the very long descent. What is the difference with the peloton? One minute.

The breakaway group extended its lead, allowing the five riders to start the climb with a lead of just under three minutes. It would be a long climb, as the road from kilometer 72 to kilometer 117 was mostly uphill. UAE took control behind them for their leader Almeida.

Thanks to the efforts of the Emirati team, the lead of the breakaway riders gradually decreased, but at the top of the San Bernardino, the gap was still two minutes. At that point, there was a very long descent into the valley, after which the final would begin. The riders had to tackle the steep climb to Castaneda twice, which was quite challenging, with a length of 4.5 kilometers and an average gradient of 9.8%.

With just over a minute's lead, the five breakaway riders began the first ascent of the final climb. Mikkel Bjerg took charge of the climb in the peloton, reducing the gap to the group in front. Vlasov then decided to accelerate. Bilbao and Powless tried to hang on, while Fortunato and Romo had to drop back. Bjerg's work was now done in the pack, where Decathlon AG2R took the lead. Grégoire had been dropped with 24 kilometers to go, so it would be very difficult for him to keep his leader's jersey.

Vlasov and Bilbao were the first riders to reach the top, while Powless was not far behind, joining the first riders in the GC. They were Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R)7, Almeida, Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) and even Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor). This meant that Grégoire, Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R), Lennard Kämna (Lidl-Trek), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) and Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana) were missing from the top 10 at this point.

Most of the riders came back together on the descent, with Vlasov, Bilbao, and Powless also caught by the GC contenders. All the top riders were back together except for Grégoire. The Frenchman started the final climb more than a minute behind his opponents.

O'Connor had to drop out early while Kämna and Castrillo dangled at the back of the favorites' group. Almeida had to focus on Vauquelin and Alaphilippe, the two riders still ahead of him in the virtual classification. Again, Gall put his men at the front, causing the opponents to drop one by one.

With just under four kilometers to go, the super-strong Alaphilippe accelerated, with Frenchman Onley following him. Almeida seemed to be struggling, even though that never really mattered to him. The British rider from Picnic PostNL soon left Alaphilippe behind as the Frenchman rejoined Vauquelin, Almeida, Gall, and Riccitello.

The two Frenchmen fell behind, with Almeida the first to catch up with Onley. Gall followed not far behind, while Vauquelin seemed slightly stronger than Alaphilippe. These positions remained unchanged until the finish line. Almeida beat Onley in the sprint for the stage victory, with Gall finishing third. Vauquelin came fourth and claimed the leader's jersey, while Riccitello finished fifth behind him.