As it happened: Tour de Suisse race lead changes hands after hard-fought Queen stage 5

Hello and welcome back to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the 2025 Tour de Suisse!

Just over 30 minutes until the start of stage 5 in La Punt, near Switzerland's border with Italy.

An emotional moment from the start of stage 5, as a new memorial to Gino Mäder is unveiled on the Albulapass. La Punt was the finish location of the stage where he tragically passed away two years ago.

If you missed yesterday's stage in the mountains, catch up with the action and João Almeida beginning his comeback on GC with our race report:

Tour de Suisse: João Almeida goes solo on the Splügenpass for stage 4 victory

Nice words from Bahrain Victorious DS Michał Gołaś on an emotional day for Gino Mäder's team. They'll be racing hard with him in mind, as always.

Under 15 minutes until the start of stage 5 now.

Here's a look at the profile for the Queen stage, with climbing arriving soon after the start. It should bring quite the fight for the breakaway.

Climbs on stage 5

There are four category 1 climbs awaiting the riders on the 183.8km route to Santa Maria in Calanca:
– Julierpass (7.3km at 6.5%)
– Passo del San Bernardino (7.5km at 5.9%)
– Castaneda (4.4km at 9.8%)
– Castaneda (4.4km at 9.8%)

Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) will start the day as the GC leader, but he's faced some criticism from second-place overall Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) after riding defensively in yesterday's final:

'You have to respect it, but it sucks' – Tour de Suisse GC challenger Kévin Vauquelin criticises race leader Romain Grégoire for lack of collaboration

Here's Grégoire ahead of the stage start, chatting with compatriot Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) after they worked well together to bring the yellow jersey back to his rivals.

The riders are gone from the neutralised roll out and there's been a crash for two riders and some mechanical issues.

No abandons this morning, so all 141 riders who finished yesterday have taken the start of stage 5.

183km to go

Official start given on stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse!

Here's a look at the jersey wearers on stage 5. From left to right, Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla) leads the King of the Mountains classification, João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) the points, Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) is wearing the best young rider's white jersey, looking after it on behalf of Romain Grégoire (Grouapama-FDJ), who is wearing the race leader's yellow jersey.

Several early attacks are being launched in anticipation of the first climb, Julierpass.

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Javier Romo (Movistar) have broken away slightly as a trio, with more counters coming from behind them.

That trio had built a slim 10-second lead, but they have been joined by 9 more riders to form a leading group of 12.

With 174km to go, the new leading break is as follows: Bilbao, Swift, Romo, Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Nicolò Buratti (Bahrain Victorious), Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon Ag2R La Mondiale), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Alberto Bettiol (XDS-Astana), Sjoerd Bax (Q36.5) and Marco Haller (Tudor).

That large leading group now has 25 seconds on the chasing peloton.

Here's the moment the original trio of Romo, Bilbao and Swift got away.

170km to go

The gap to the 12-man break is growing, now at 45 seconds with the first categorised climb approaching.

At the foot of the Julierpass climb (7.3km at 6.5%), the gap from the peloton to the breakaway was at 50 seconds.

The start of the climb has hurt the break's chances, with the gap cut down already to 30 seconds.

Askey is the first rider to drop from the 12-man move, with counterattacks now coming from the peloton.

It's Juanpe López (Lidl-Trek) and Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike) who have attacked out of the peloton. They both lost time yesterday.

Lots of riders are beginning to struggle at the back of the main bunch. This will be a very long day in the saddle for those forming the grupetto.

López has made contact with those in front. Lemmen is a bit further behind, but the peloton is now just 15 seconds in arrears.

165km to go

Marco Haller is the next rider from the break to drop.

Another counterattack was tried by Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), but that was quickly caught back by the bunch.

Lemmen has now made contact in front, restoring the breakaway to its original size of 12 riders. Askey and Haller dropped, López and the Dutchman replacing them on this first climb.

A look back at the original 12-man break. Two of them have dropped and been replaced by chasers, with more riders now trying to bridge across on the Julierpass climb.

The group in front has grown again in size. Christen, Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Nairo Quintana, Will Barta (Movistar), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-QuickStep), Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana), Joe Blackmore and Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) are the latest to jump across.

It's now 19 riders in the lead with a slim advantage: Bilbao, Powless, Romo, Vlasov, Christen, Fortunato, Izagirre, Buratti, Bisiaux, Swift, López, Simmons, Quintana, Barta, Vansevenant, Bettiol, Blackmore, Houle and Bax.

The front group has split up, with five riders getting away with the Julierpass' summit approaching: Bilbao, Powless, Romo, Vlasov and Fortunato.

The yellow jersey group is 22 seconds behind, but more attacks are coming in this aggressive start to start 5.

The peloton has now joined the front chase group of 14 from the various breakaway efforts. Only the five leaders of that earlier move remain in front, and they have a 25-second lead.

160km to go

Riders are over the top of the Julierpass now. One categorised climb down, three to go.

Onto the long descent down off the Julierpass now, with the foot of the next climb proper arriving in around 90km after the downhill and rise back out of the valley.

They won't have had a chance to sneak a look with that breathless fight for the break, but the riders are in one of the most beautiful places in the world, passing Lake St. Moritz earlier in the stage.

The gap from the lead group is at just 20 seconds, with lots of tricky descending roads still to tackle.

Here's the moment our five leaders got away on stage 5, with Vlasov the architect of the move.

150km to go

Confirmation that it was Vlasov who led the break over the Julierpass KOM point, bringing him the maximum haul of 12 points, with Romo taking 8 and Bilbao 6.

Finally, the gap has gone in the right direction for those five trying to breakaway, now at 40 seconds from the peloton – what's left of it anyway.

A feed zone has slowed things down in the main bunch, allowing riders to come back on the descent after being dropped.

The five riders in the lead now have an advantage of 1:25.

140km to go

Average speed after the opening hour of climbing and descending was up at 42.3kph.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG are unsurprisingly setting the pace in the peloton behind. gap now at 1:50 to the five leaders.

Here's a reminder of how the GC standings looked at the start of stage 4, with pre-race overall favourite Almeida still needing to make up 2:07 to overhaul Grégeoire, despite his stage win and 1:10 time gain on Wednesday. Lots still to play for with today's brutal route, and the final uphill time trial on stage 8.

130km to go

We're still on descending roads on stage 5, with gap at 2:05 form the break to the peloton.

UAE continue to lead the peloton behind. They'll be confident Almeida can produce once again after his 49-kilometre solo effort yesterday, and it's the man in yellow just behind them in the line, Grégoire, that they will be looking for the Portuguese rider to drop.

120km to go

The gap has stabilised at the two-minute mark.

The riders are nearing the end of the downhill run off of the Julierpass, with a climb back out of the valley from Thusis leading them towards the category 1 San Bernardino climb.

Reminder of the five men who lead stage 5: Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Javier Romo (Movistar), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Lorenzo Frotunato (XDS-Astana).

110km to go

After the memorial was unveiled for Gino Mäder at today's start, the rider who crests the peak of the San Bernardino Pass first will also receive a special prize honouring the Swiss rider at the #RideforGino KoM.

More information on why Canada's Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) was forced to abandon the Tour de Suisse yesterday:

Michael Woods suffers another setback as lung infection rules him out of Tour de Suisse

The riders are climbing uphill gradually now, towards the foot of the next categorised climb.

100km to go

Latest gap to the break is 2:15.

Calm before the storm in the peloton on stage 5. After that aggressive start, action should kick off again on the San Bernardino Pass in the GC battle.

The uphill push towards the foot of the climb proper has seen the first significant move in the time gap for a while. Now, 2:45 separates the break and the peloton behind.

No change on the front of the peloton, with UAE pulling for Almeida.

More information on the emotional ceremony held in memory of Gino Mäder this morning:

Ceremony for new memorial in Gino Mäder's honour held before Tour de Suisse stage 5

90km to go

The race is about to pass through Splügen, where they turned left towards the Splügenpass on stage 4. Instead, they will continue heading west towards Hinterrhein, before starting the San Bernardino Pass.

The breakaway's advantage has reached a new high for the stage – 3:10.

Another look at the five riders in the break on stage five. From left to right: Bilbao, Vlasov, Romo, Fortunato and Powless.

Breakaway's lead now at 3:30. They've got a chance, but someone will need to really move away on this next climb to give them as good a shot as possible at the stage victory, with Almeida surely going to attack from behind.

80km to go

The break's advantage continues to grow out at 3:45, as they approach the React Intermediate Sprint near Nufenen

The five riders in front are now slowly losing time to the peloton, with the 7.5km climb and it's iconic hairpin turns approaching.

Romo led the break through the intermediate sprint, with Vlasov in second and Fortunato in third.

Onto the foot of the climb, and the break start it with a 3:20 advantage.

70km to go

Splits in the bunch already, as those who struggled on the first climb have began to struggle once gain on the San Bernardino Pass.

We're onto the quite stunning switchbacks of this category 1 climb now, with the five-man break pushing on nicely together.

UAE are shredding things on the front of the peloton, with three riders sat in front of Almeida, who is in the black points jersey. Gap down to 2:24.

Today will be a huge test for race leader Grégoire. After he was dropped on the Splügenpass yesterday, his rivals will be confident they can distance him again.

The five-man break is working quite well together, but their advantage has dropped a lot down to 2:16.

700m to the top of the climb, and I would be amazed if Bilbao doesn't shoot off the front and get the special prize at the top, honouring his late teammate and friend Gino Mäder.

Scratch that, Vlasov sprinted off and took the maximum haul of KOM points. That's the second climb of the day done, with another long section of descending to follow.

64km to go

The break and the peloton are over the top of the climb and passing Laghetto Moesola, with a 2:13 gap separating the two groups.

A look at the UAE-led peloton on the quite stunning bit of road that is the San Bernardino Pass.

60km to go

Very fast roads on this descent down from the climb.

The break are onto a small uphill drag amid the descent, but will then be onto a steep 30km of downhill that precedes the Castaneda climb.

Gap to the five leaders remains at 2:15, as those behind head through another feed zone.

50km to go

Speeds up at 85kph on this descent, shown on the TV motorbike, as the race continues to head south parallel with the Swiss, Italian border.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG continue to flex their strength on the front, with Almeida having significant support in the form of four riders. many of his riders are either with one or two teammates only remaining.

2:10 advantage for the five riders in front is intact. Reminder that it's Powless, Bilbao, Romo, Vlasov and Fortunato who managed to get away on the first categorised climb, after a breathless fight for the break.

40km to go

Almeida has four teammates in front of him working to keep the gap close.

Race motorbike is showing speeds of 100kph now and that's at the back of the peloton. Swiss roads are plenty fast.

The breakaway is closing in on the Tissot sprint and that fight for yet another watch at the Tour de Suisse.. The bonus seconds won't mean much to any of them, however, with Vlasov starting the closest on GC today at over six minutes.

Stefan Küng is back in the bunch and on bottle duty for Groupama-FDJ, ready to help Grégoire approach this touch final on stage 5.

30km to go

The gap to the break is falling rapidly once again, down to 1:14 as UAE continue to ramp things up for a likely all-out Almeida assault on the final two climbs.

The break is nearing the foot of the first ascent of the Castaneda climb (4.4km at 9.8%). They'll climb it once, loop back around and climb again, with an extra few kilometres of climbing to the finish coming on the second rep up.

26km to go

It's the third category 1 climb of the stage, with only a 1:16 advantage for the peloton.

Race vehicles behind the break are being pulled out, with a clear narrow road at the bottom of the climb, and the gap likely to come down as those behind chase hard.

Slight change on the front of the bunch, with Arkéa-B&B Hotels and Lidl-Trek joining UAE near the helm. They will all want to be rid of Grégoire.

With maybe a slim chance before the action kicks off properly, make sure you read this big news on the UCI attempting to make racing safer with things such as a gear restriction trial:

New UCI gear rules will restrict SRAM's use of 10t cog, but there could be implications for wider tyres too

UAE continue to pull for Almeida and the gap drops further to 48 seconds. 2.9km to the crest now.

Vlasov is moving away at the front of the break with an attack. He'll want the points, but with the gap coming down, he needs to move now.

Romo and Fortunato have dropped now. Powless is trying to get back on after racing aggressively all week in Switzerland, with Bilbao close behind him.

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale have taken up the mantle of chasing on the front, with Felix Gall clearly feeling strong. He's won a stage of the Tour de Suisse previously in 2023, and will be keen on repeating the feat.

Race leader dropped

24km to go and Romain Grégoire is dropping. He's in trouble and this looks like the race lead going up the road, with only one teammate in front and 1.7km of the penultimate climb left to complete.

Powless has worked well to get onto the wheel of Vlasov and overtake him. Bilbao too is now back with the Russian, leaving three left out front.

23km to go

Decathlon are continuing to put the pressure on behind, which has blown the lead group apart completely. Almeida isn't looking as strong and sits near the back of the favourites.

The trio in front now have only 30 seconds on the group of favourites.

Alaphilippe is climbing brilliantly in the GC group, sat third wheel behind the Decathlon riders, with the virtual race leader Kévin Vauquelin still going well in the white jersey.

Gall has run out of teammates and is now working away on the front with 500 metres to go until the peak for the trio in front.

Here comes Almeida. He's moved to the front and started to apply the gradual pressure as he did yesterday. The trio in front are in his sights.

Bilbao and Vlasov have left Powless behind, with the break's day in front about to come to an end at the hands of the favourites.

Vlasov and Bilbao are over the top of the climb now, and will head west before looping back around to the foot of the Castaneda and climbing an even longer ascent to the finish in Santa Maria in Calanca.

20km to go

The group of favourites now sit 15 seconds behind the two leaders on the road, with Grégoire well dropped at 1:45.

The chase group of GC favourites is only seven riders strong: Almeida, Gall, Alaphilippe, Vauquelin, Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech).

Off of the descent, and the two leaders are still just 18 seconds in front. The race is onto a flatter section of racing en route back to the Cataneda climb.

Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) and Lennard Kämna (Lidl-Trek) were dropped on the climb, after starting the day in fourth and fifth on GC, but they've descended back into contention with the Almeida group.

Powless worked very hard on the downhill road to rejoin his two fellow escapees Vlasov and Bilbao. Trio in front restored, and with a 30-second lead on the peloton. Grégoire is still a minute down with Arkéa pacing to get Vauquelin the race lead.

10km to go

Lots more riders have returned to the group of favourites, with Almeida surely prepping for a bigger attack on the final climb for home.

Breakaway finally caught after an awfully long day out in front. Bilbao, Powless and Vlasov won't play a part in the final.

A teammate has returned to do some final work Almeida at the foot of the climb. They lead Grégorie by 1:15, so he is out of it.

Start of final climb

6.1km to go and the final climb to the line has begun on the Castaneda ascent. Vlasov has dropped after securing the KOM jersey.

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale are back near the front with UAE, so Gall and Almeida could well be fighting it out between them for the stage win very soon.

O'Connor has dropped as he did on the first ascent. He started the day well placed, but he's going to lose a lot of time on the final climb.

5km to go

Still two riders in front of Gall in the group now. Decathlon doing a top job for the Austrian.

Vauquelin is looking good to take over the race lead, even if he is dropped by Almeida, but he'll need to stay defensive on this climb to do so, unless his legs are incredible of course.

One rider left in front of Gall now, who will be released into an attack soon surely. Gaps opening up in the group of favourites due to the French team's pace.

Attack

Is it the 2019 TDF? Julian Alaphilippe is absolutely flying on the climb and he's attacked away with 4km to go. Oscar Onley is with him.

Here's a look at Almeida on the last ascent. He's been slightly distanced by that Alaphilippe sting, but will be working away at his own tempo.

Onley and Alaphilippe are now off the front with a narrow gap from Vauquelin, who is third on the road. Almeida is close behind him.

3km to go

Vauquelin is pacing nicely to try and shutdown the Scot and his compatriot. It's between Alaphilippe and the Arkéa rider for the race lead of the Tour de Suisse, with the former two-time world champ starting the day in third, 4 seconds behind Vauquelin on GC.

Finally, Alaphilippe has started to struggle after Onley dropped him.

Almeida is quietly working his way up, after hiding in the shadows for much of this climb, as his rivals kicked off. The Portuguese rider is chasing down Onley now.

The favourites are all over the road in 1s and 2s, with Onley leading, Almeida chasing solo, Gall also chasing on his own, then Alaphilippe and Vauquelin close together in pursuit.

Almeida looks ominous as he continues to push on the pedals and slowly grind up to Onley's wheel. He'll be with him and probably past him very soon.

Contact made by Almeida with Onley 2.3km from the finish.

Here's a look back at when Onley and Alaphilippe got away on the final climb. The Brit has stuck with Almeida at the front of the race now, but the pressure will continue.

2km to go

The leading duo are over the categorised Castaneda climb, but reminder that the final 1.8km are all climbing as well, en route to Santa Maria in Calanca.

Vauquelin has left Alaphilippe behind, with the former looking at the race leader's yellow jersey, and the latter eyeing up a podium finish at the Tour de Suisse.

Gall is 14 seconds down on the Brit and Portuguese rider in front of him. Alaphilippe is 48 seconds down. No gap posted to Vauquelin for now.

1km to go

Into the final kilometre and Almeida is continuing to press on. Gap for Vauquelin is said to be 38 seconds from Almeida and Onley.

Onley has a great sprint on him for the possible stage win, but Almeida has put on some serious pressure and is no slouch himself after a hard day, having won a Giro stage in the past.

Almeida is still powering on, but Vauquelin has stabilised his gap at around 40 seconds, meaning he probably will be in yellow tomorrow if he can hang on.

Onley is not as concerned about time as Almeida and he's sitting in now on the Portuguese rider's wheel.

Into the final 300 metres now and the barriered section. Here comes the sprint.

Onley hits the front and he's burst away from Almeida, who is working to try and get the bonus seconds. It looks like the Brit has taken it, but it's centimetres on the line for the maximum haul of 10 bonuses.

Gall comes across the line in third, with Vauquelin struggling to the line, but with the race leader's yellow jersey awaiting him – great ride from the young Frenchman.

Tour de Suisse Stage 5 finish

Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) wins stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse in Santa Maria in Calanca.

A look at just how close it was at the finsh between Onley and Almeida, with the Scottish rider taking it by half a wheel. Stunning finish to a great mountain stage.

Romain Grégoire is coming to the line now on stage 5, well beaten by the GC favourites after a valiant five-day fight following his stage 1 victory.

Here's a look at the new GC standings after a big battle on stage 5. Vauquelin is the new race leader, with Alaphilippe stunningly in second at 29 seconds. Almeida did more great work in reducing his deficit to just 39 seconds, with Onley moving up to fourth thanks to his stage win.

Here's what Onley had to say after his WorldTour and second professional win of his career:

Did he expect it? "Definitely not at the start today," said Onley. "I knew I was in good shape and feeling good this week, but obviously with Almeida here, he's been really strong and it wasn't even guaranteed the win would would come from the bunch with a strong break up front.

"But I felt good, and just gave it a go on the last climb. I don't win often and I've had a quite a few podiums so far this year, or quite close results, so to pull it off today is really nice for myself and my teammates, because they do a really good job every day, today no different. It's nice to be able to pay them back now and a again.

"I haven't actually looked at the GC yet, I don't know where I am, but obviously quite a few of us lost a time on stage 1, so I was quite disappointed after that.

"Warren [Barguil] and the coaches were really supportive and said how long the week was and how hard it was, so it wouldn't make quite a big difference. Obviously to think like that is hard at the time, but I just kept trying to chip away at it every day."

Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is the new leader of the King of the Mountains classification after stage 5. Having moved up 15 spots to first, he leads Almeida in the red jersey competition by 14 points.

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) maintained his lead of the black points jersey classification, but he'll have his eyes only on the race leader's yellow jersey.

Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) continues to impress as the new overall race leader of the Tour de Suisse. He has three stages to defend the yellow jersey, for the biggest WorldTour GC result of his career. At 24, the Frenchman also leads the best young rider' white jersey classification.

Make sure you read our full race report for a summary of the action if you missed anything, alongside a selection of some images from a stunning stage 5 route:

Tour de Suisse - Oscar Onley outsprints João Almeida to win queen stage 5 atop summit at Calanca

Here's a look at what the riders have in store on tomorrow's stage 6. After two breathless days of racing in the mountains and the heat, it may be the perfect chance for a breakaway to upset the fast men into Neuhausen am Rheinfall, near the German border.

That wraps things up for our live coverage of stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse. Come back tomorrow for more action in Switzerland, as the final WorldTour stage race before the Tour de France continues.