João Almeida scored another victory in the Tour de Suisse on Saturday. The Portuguese rider beat his fellow favorites in a tough hilly stage and is now only half a minute behind the yellow jersey going into the final stage.
In the penultimate stage to Emmetten, the riders faced two tough climbs in the final phase. Almeida tried to drop the French leader Kévin Vauquelin on the first climb, but he managed to follow the Portuguese rider from UAE Team Emirates.
Julian Alaphilippe, who is third in the general classification, Oscar Onley, Felix Gall, and the Dutch rider Frank van den Broek also joined Almeida. This meant that a group of favorites started the final 4-kilometer climb. Van den Broek was the only one left from the breakaway.
The fireworks on that climb took a long time to start. Gall did attack once, but he was quickly caught. As a result, the battle for the stage win seemed to turn into a sprint, but leader Vauquelin put a stop to that by launching an attack at around 500 meters.
Almeida had to come from far, but he managed to catch Vauquelin and was then the fastest in the sprint. His second stage win reduces his deficit to Vauquelin to 33 seconds. Almeida was several minutes behind after the opening stage on Sunday because he missed the split.
Kruijswijk withdraws for unknown reason
Kruijswijk did not reach the finish in Emmetten. The climber from Visma-Lease a Bike abandoned the race about 120 kilometers from the finish. It is unknown what was wrong with him. Normally, Kruijswijk does not ride the Tour, which starts on July 5.
The battle for the overall victory in the Tour de Suisse will be decided on Sunday with a 10-kilometer uphill time trial to the Stockhütte ski area. The best Dutch rider in the general classification is Bart Lemmen in nineteenth place. He is more than seventeen minutes behind Vauquelin.
Almeida is preparing for the Tour de France in Switzerland, where he has to help Tadej Pogacar to another overall victory. The Portuguese is one of the few general classification riders who has chosen the tour in preparation for the Tour. Many competitors opted for the Critérium du Dauphiné.
In the Tour of Belgium, Jenno Berckmoes won the queen stage to the Wall of Durbuy. The Belgian was the best in the sprint from the breakaway. The escapees were able to compete for the stage win because the peloton had miscalculated. Briton Ethan Hayter remains the leader in the race and defends a narrow lead in the final stage on Sunday.