ANALYSIS: Who are Remco Evenepoel's main rivals at the 2025 Tour de Romandie?

As the 2025 Tour de Romandie approaches, all eyes are on Remco Evenepoel. The Belgian star arrives in scintillating form after dominating the Ardennes classics and will headline a stacked start list in what promises to be one of the most competitive editions of the race in recent years. With two time trials on the route, Evenepoel is a clear favourite — but he won’t have it easy.

Jonas Vingegaard might have recently announced that he will skip all races leading up to the Critérium du Dauphiné as part of his build-up to the Tour de France. Nevertheless, even without the Danish champion, the Swiss stage race boasts an impressive line-up, with three key contenders standing in Evenepoel's way: João Almeida, Carlos Rodríguez, and Aleksandr Vlasov.

The Portuguese rider appears to be Evenepoel’s most serious challenger. While his time trialling may not be as sharp as in the past - largely due to his focus on improving in the high mountains - he remains a formidable rider against the clock, as he showed with a dominant win at the recent Itzulia Basque Country.

Almeida's 2025 season has been consistently strong, with podium finishes in the Algarve and Valencia, a sixth-place in Paris–Nice, and that overall victory in the Basque Country. He’s expected to be in even better form by the time the Tour de Romandie starts, especially with the Tour de Suisse also on his calendar before the Tour de France.

As the defending champion, Rodríguez naturally comes into the race as one of the top favourites. Time trials aren’t his speciality, so he’ll need to limit his losses in the prologue and other timed stages. Still, the race profile offers plenty of tough terrain, which suits his aggressive style.

Rodríguez has had a quiet season so far. After placing sixth in Valencia, he was forced to abandon the UAE Tour - his only other race to date in 2025. As a result, his current form remains something of a mystery, but his past performance in Romandie proves he's capable of delivering when it counts.

The Russian finished runner-up to Rodríguez last year and claimed overall victory in Romandie back in 2022. His 2025 season hasn’t been particularly impressive, with underwhelming results in Valencia, Paris–Nice, and the Basque Country. That said, he's likely using these races to build form ahead of a key support role for Primož Roglič at the Tour de France.

Vlasov is a strong time trialist and usually performs well in week-long stage races. If he can stay close in the mountains, he has the potential to challenge for the overall win once again.