"Enjoy this one, then get ready for the Tour de France" - João Almeida takes 3rd successive GC win of 2025 at the Tour de Suisse

João Almeida is having a hell of a season in 2025, with an incredible comeback win at the Tour de Suisse marking a third successive GC win for the Portuguese star this campaign. As such, Almeida now heads to the Tour de France - where he will support Tadej Pogacar - full of confidence.

After a disaster of a stage 1, Almeida found himself more than three minutes down in the GC, with Maillot Jaune hopes looking a long way away. Steadily and impressively gaining time back over the days after though, Almeida culminated an impressive comeback with a dominant performance in the final stage time trial on Sunday to seal the overall victory ahead of Kevin Vauquelin.

"I did a really good climb, I was feeling really good," reflected a delighted Almeida in his post-stage interview after his time trial finished, with the win still not having fully sunk in. "For moments, I thought my power meter was not calibrated because it was showing higher numbers. So yeah, I'm super happy, actually."

"It was a big plan since the first day when I lost three minutes. But the team did amazing, we did a perfect job, we fought for the win. We never gave up, we always believed — and in the end, we did it," he continues. "Today, I think I started a bit too fast, to be honest. I overpaced a little bit in the beginning. In the end, I really didn’t have more gas to push the last kilometre. But I guess it was enough — it wasn’t necessary. So yeah, I'm just super happy."

And as mentioned, now attention turns towards the Tour de France. "It’s like a lesson. You should never give up. Sometimes things go wrong, sometimes nothing is perfect — you just need to keep trying. And yeah, we kept trying and we did it," concludes the UAE Team Emirates - XRG star. "Plenty of time to enjoy this one. And then I’m ready for the Tour de France to support — and hopefully, we can get more wins there."