PREVIEW - Tour de Suisse stage 7 - Head-to-head between Joao Almeida and Adam Yates for the yellow jersey

Tour de Suisse is one of the most important stage races of the year. It's the last big test before the Tour de France and some of the Tour's stars race in Switzerland, in an eight-day race that includes lots of mountains, time trials and a few days for the classics specialists. The race takes place from June 9 to 16. We preview the 7th stage

Stage 7 is only 118 kilometers long, which is certainly a short day, although not as short as the 42 kilometers of the previous stage. It has 3,000 meters of gradient. The stage starts in Villars-sur-Ollon, and yes, you'll hear that name a lot. The cyclists climb to the top of the Col de la Croix right at the start of the stage, 4 kilometers at 8.7% and finish with just 7.5 kilometers of racing.

The cyclists descend to Aigle, then climb Villars-sur-Ollon and the Col de la Croix for the second time. In total, there are 17 kilometers of climbing at 7.1%. The summit is 51.5 kilometers from the finish line. The cyclists then descend to Aigle for the second time; the first part of the descent is quite steep and relatively technical.

After crossing Aigle again, the cyclists head up to Villars-sur-Ollon, this time to finish the stage. The cyclists climb just before the start of the climb really begins to count, as the climb itself is 8.6 kilometers at 8%. It's a fairly steady climb, with a few bends, typical of the end of a difficult mountain stage.

Favorites

- João Almeida: Almeida already knows what it's like to beat Adam Yates in the Swiss race. The "Duro das Caldas" showed better legs than his teammate to take victory in stage 6 and in his declarations warned that, if it were up to him, he would go on to win every stage. He's less than 30 seconds behind Yates, and João can try to reduce the time and bet everything on the final time trial.

- Adam Yates: The yellow jersey will face the 7th stage of the Tour de Suisse as the big favorite to win once again. Leader of the general classification, the UAE Team Emirates rider showed very good legs on all the mountain days and will try to win the stage to face the final time trial with relative calm.

- Mattias Skjelmose: The winner of the 2023 edition of the race offered his best version on the sixth stage, climbing to 4th place overall and taking the white jersey in the youth classification. Skjelmose continues his upward trend and is aiming for the podium. Although he left doubts in the early days, he was better than Egan Bernal in the final head-to-head.

- Egan Bernal: The Colombian INEOS Grenadiers rider is showing good legs and a return to fitness in this Tour de Suisse. Bernal has shown this on every mountain day and, as a result, he remains in 3rd place in the general classification, where he hopes to remain at the end of stage 7. There's every reason to be confident that he'll make it, as he's been one of the few who's had the legs to keep up with the favorites' attacks on the final climbs.

Prediction of the 7th stage of the 2024 Tour de Suisse:

*** Adam Yates, João Almeida

** Egan Bernal, Mattias Skjelmose, Enric Mas

* Einer Rubio, Lenny Martinez, Tom Pidcock, Matthew Riccitello, Felix Gall.

Choice: João Almeida

Article written by Carlos Silva