The domination of the UAE Team Emirates at the Tour de Suisse was total. At the end of the last stage, Joao Almeida dominated the 15.7 kilometer bump time scheduled for this Sunday between Aigle and Villars-sur-Ollon. Already winner of the mountain stage in Blatten, the Portuguese finally finished nine seconds ahead of his leader Adam Yates on the line and thus ahead of him by twenty-two seconds in the final classification, while consolidating his second place overall.
Because at the end of an important week scheduled shortly before the Tour de France, it was indeed the British rider who emerged as the big winner of this 87th edition of the Tour de Suisse. Winner of the 5th stage and leader since the fourth day of racing, Yates was never put in danger to consolidate his yellow leader’s jersey until the end, if it was not his own teammate Almeida. Suffice it to say that the two riders from the UAE Team Emirates will be strong allies for their leader Tadej Pogacar, in search of a double on the Tour after winning the Giro.
Bernal big loser
On this specific time of 15.7 kilometers which offered five flat terminals and a little less than ten others on bumps where most of the runners had decided to start the exercise with a time bike to finish with a classic machine, the great loser of the day was Egan Bernal. Third overall before this last stage, the Colombian finally gave up the last step of the podium in favor of the Dane Mattias Skjelmose, third in the time trial and outgoing winner, by ten seconds.
Far from the top of the table and upset by a week quite distant from his initial ambitions, Lenny Martinez wanted to make it known that this meeting before the French championships in Normandy (June 23) had only been an accident in the eyes from the start of the season. This Sunday, the young climber from the Groupama-FDJ team outdid himself by achieving the sixth fastest time at the finish, less than a minute behind the winner of the day.
Finally, this Tour de Suisse 2024 could not end without a final tribute. On June 16, 2023, the Swiss Gino Mäder lost his life after falling the day before in a descent during the 5th stage of this same event. This Sunday on the occasion of the last stage of the 87th edition, the memory was inevitably still alive within the organization and the peloton.
