Grégoire takes Suisse stage 1, as O'Connor gains heaps of time on GC rivals
Stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse took place on exactly the same course as the finale of the women's event, a punchy Classics-style race of just 129.4 km. The chances of it being a sprint stage were slim, but few would reasonably expect to lose much time at this early point in the eight-day race – but that's exactly what happened to many of the favourites.
After an aggressive start, a large breakaway of 28 riders formed ahead of the peloton led by the UAE Team Emirates-XRG lineup supporting João Almeida, widely considered the man to beat at the Tour de Suisse. Of the UAE deligation, only Felix Großschartner made the move, along with a host of dangerous names including Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) and GC contender Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla). Against the odds, and in grizzly conditions, the gap ballooned out towards four minutes, and the peloton was never able to do much damage in the chase.
The breakaway ultimately broke up again on the smaller local loop, but the leaders had plenty of time in hand. Grégoire took a solo victory on the stage, with Vauquelin leading a small chase group 20 seconds behind. A minute 7 seconds later, O'Connor led the next group home with Großschartner on his wheel, with the peloton's arrival delayed by a further two minutes and 5 seconds, setting up an intriguing week of racing in Switzerland.
[race_result id=16 stage_id=87949 count=5 gc=0 year=2025]
[race_result id=16 stage_id=87949 count=5 gc=5 year=2025]
