"Actually I think I did a mistake..." - Joao Almeida misses out on second successive stage win at Tour de Suisse 2025

He might not be in the Yellow Jersey of race leader, but there is no doubting who the strongest climber of the race is at the 2025 Tour de Suisse. On stage 5, for the third successive day, Joao Almeida went on the attack, this time having to settle for 2nd place behind Oscar Onley.

After a disastrous opening stage had put Almeida more than three minutes down, not many gave the UAE Team Emirates - XRG leader much hope of taking the overall victory. After having clawed consistent time back over the days since however, he ends stage 5 sitting 3rd overall, just 39 seconds down on race leader Kevin Vauquelin.

"It’s definitely more possible today than it was yesterday. So yeah, we give our best. I was not feeling great today — was not 100% — but it is what it is," Almeida reflected honestly in his post-stage interview afterwards with Cycling Pro Net. "I was just managing whatever I had. You know, I could not go faster than that, so I just kept going my pace. In the end, I was very close to winning the stage, but yeah, Oscar also deserved it."

In the two-up sprint for the line however, Almeida was left rueing an error. "Actually I think I did a mistake," he admits. "I was on my small chainring, I think. I accelerated a little bit — 20 meters to go — he passed me and then I was coming back. But yeah, the line was there, and it is what it is. We are close. So yeah, we need to keep fighting."

With plenty more challenging terrain to come over the next few days, and a final stage time trial, Almeida is looking the most likely Tour de Suisse 2025 winner. An incredible comeback from his disappointing stage 1.