2025 Tour de Suisse - stage-by-stage guide

In its entirety, the 2025 Tour de Suisse spans 1,300 kilometres and over 20,000 metres in altitude between the start in Küssnacht on stage 1 and the finish at Stockhütte despite the two towns being situated only 16 kilometres apart. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was victorious twelve months ago, ahead of his teammate João Almeida and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) in third.

Here is a guide looking at the eight stages that make up the 2025 edition of the Tour de Suisse, and will decide who follows in the footsteps of Yates.

The opening stage of the 2025 Tour de Suisse doesn’t start with the prologue that we are accustomed to. Instead, the race organisers have opted to follow the format of 2022 with a road stage that begins and finishes in the village of Küssnacht. Stevie Williams (Israel - Premier Tech) was victorious on that occasion three years ago. The stage passes the start and finish line in Küssnacht several times.

It’s a stage that is not to be taken lightly due to the presence of the climb up to the Michaelskreuz chapel. It can only be described as a 3.8 kilometre wall, courtesy of its 9.1% average gradient. For many riders, this is not the gentle start to the race that they would have been hoping for, as they will have to tackle this steep climb twice.

Crucially, the summit of the second ascent comes less than 13 kilometres from the finish, meaning there is a strong possibility of attacks on the climb. The fast flowing descent which follows could also serve as a strategic point of attack, as an uncategorised ramp averaging 8% follows. The final kilometre should suit any fast finishers who have survived the climbing, as it is flat.

Aarau is the birthplace of Silvain Dillier, a key member of the Alpecin-Deceuninck squad who finished runner-up at Paris-Roubaix in 2018. This is the first of two consecutive stages that will start in Aarau, and both will suit a similar profile of rider, the puncheurs. The official race website suggests that the stage could go the way of “mountain-proof” sprinters.

In total, 2,700 metres of altitude across 177 kilometres makes this a very tricky stage for even those ‘mountain-proof’ sprinters to contend with. It will ultimately boil down to how hard the general classification contenders are willing to push the pace so early into the race.

The Guggisberg is a categorised climb that comes around 50 kilometres from the finish line and could pose a question or two to the fast men. Equally, the stage concludes with a steady climb to the haven of Schwarzee before the road drops slightly downhill in the final 500 metres, which could impact the type of finish scenario we see if a large group comes to the line together.

Another route primed for a hybrid sprint between the GC contenders and puncheurs, stage 3 is comfortably the hillest of the opening three days. The official race website has pointed out that the riders have a tough day in the saddle ahead of them, with the tough terrain on the menu. With nearly 3,000 metres of elevation gain across 195.6 kilometres, it’s a stage that may fly under the radar but still bears an important consequence on the GC battle. The overall race won’t be won on this stage, but it could catch riders out who aren’t at their best.

Beginning in Aarau for the second consecutive stage, the majority of the route can be described as lumpy. It’s not the type of stage where the riders will be able to just cruise along, and the 3,000 metres of elevation gain will take its toll on the riders in the tricky finale.

There is a categorised climb that is 5.2 kilometres long at 6% as the race heads towards Heiden. The summit of the climb is 14 kilometres from the finish, but that isn’t the end of the climbing on the stage. Two more sections of climbing feature after this, firstly a 2 kilometre climb at 6.8%, before a 3.4 kilometre rise to the finish, which averages 5.3%. It’s a tough finish that should become pretty selective for the stage victory, and there could be a few GC contenders caught out also.

This is an interestingly designed stage from the race organisers, as the 2025 Tour de Suisse heads over its first Alpine pass. Beginning in Heiden, where Peter Sagan won stage 3 back in the 2014 edition, the first 110 kilometres are relatively flat with no significant climbing.

However, things change dramatically shortly after as the Splürgen Pass awaits on the horizon. Firstly, the riders will climb 10 uncategorised kilometres at 4.5% to Sufnersee, followed by a short plateau before the serious climbing begins. The Splürgen Pass has been marked as 9 kilometres in length and a difficult average gradient of 7.2%. Significantly, the summit is 2,113 metres above sea level, meaning that altitude will play its part.

The climb presents a clear opportunity for the GC riders to make a difference, but they will be well aware that the stage doesn’t finish at the summit. There are still 47 kilometres from the summit of the Splürgen Pass to the finish, and the riders will drop like stones down the fast-flowing descent and into neighbouring Italy and Piuro in Valchiavenna. The final few kilometres are slightly uphill, meaning that if things come down to a sprint, timing and patience will be crucial.

The queen stage of the 2025 Tour de Suisse, spanning 183.5 kilometres and featuring over 3,800 metres of elevation gain, is set to push the riders to their limits. As well as this, the stage features the highest point of the race, located 2,284 metres above sea level on the slopes of the Julier Pass, which stands at 7.4 kilometres in length and has an average gradient of 7%. Speaking of which, the riders will very quickly be climbing up the pass, around 20 kilometres after the start in La Punt. A long staircase-like descent follows as the race steps down back closer towards sea level.

As quickly as the descending ends, the climbing recommences as the riders begin to climb on the very lower slopes of the San Bernardino Pass. Whilst categorised at 7.3 kilometres with a 6% average gradient, the ascent up to the San Bernardino begins a lot earlier and sees the riders rise from under 1,000 metres above sea level, back to a high altitude of 2,063 metres. Both the Julierpass and San Bernardino Pass are first-category climbs and will serve as excellent opportunities to score big in the mountains classification.

The descent of the San Bernardino Pass is steeper than that of the Julier Pass and takes the race into Santa Maria in Calanca, where two ascents of the Castaneda climb await, with the second ascent serving as the finish of this queen stage. It’s a different style of climb from the other two on the menu, as it is a shorter but much steeper test, standing at 4.5 kilometres with an average gradient of 10%. According to the official race website, the climb up to Santa Maria is probably unknown to many riders, making things all the more exciting on the undisputed queen stage of the 2025 Tour de Suisse.

It’s a very tough gig being a sprinter at the Tour de Suisse this year, but the race organisers have labelled this stage as flat, so will the sprinters be able to capitalise on this rare opportunity? It won’t be straightforward because there is still over 2,200 metres of climbing packed into 186.7 kilometres from Chur to Neuhausen am Rheinfall.

Chur is the capital and largest town of the Swiss canton of the Grisons, and the town has a long-standing relationship with the Tour de Suisse. Stage 1 of the 1937 edition of the race finished in the town, and it has featured on many occasions since.

Despite stage 6 being labelled as flat, the start will not be to the sprinters’ liking as there are three tough climbs in the first 80 kilometres to Sankt Luzisteig, Wildhaus and Hemberg respectively. Fortunately for the fast men, there’s more than 100 kilometres to return to the front of the race if they have been distanced. If enough teams are willing to control things for a sprint, we should see a fast man raise his hands in the air come the finish in Neuhausen am Rheinfall.

Stage 7 is the final road race stage of the Tour de Suisse and is also the longest of the 2025 edition. Beginning in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, where stage 6 finishes, the riders will travel south, 211.8 kilometres to Emmetten. The last time a stage of the Tour de Suisse started in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, back in 2021, Mathieu van Der Poel was victorious.

However, this stage is expected to play out differently from the one that Van der Poel won, as there are three tricky categorised climbs on the menu, including a summit finish in Emmetten. The first two climbs could hardly be more different. First is the Rothenthrum climb, which is categorised at 12 kilometres in length, but goes up in steps, which skews the average gradient to 2.2%. The climb will be crested with 70 kilometres remaining. In comparison, the Burgenstock is an unrelenting 5.3 kilometre wall that averages 8.2%. This climb should see the size of the peloton slim dramatically, and with the summit shy of 20 kilometres from the finish, it could even serve as a launchpad for a daring attack.

Ultimately, stage 7 is primed for a showdown on the 3.1-kilometre slopes up to Emmetten that average a stinging 8.9%. With this being the final road stage of the race, this climb has the potential to spark fireworks amongst the GC contenders as they make their final bid to improve their position in the standings ahead of the final time trial, where the race will conclude.

The final curtain of the 2025 Tour de Suisse is a mountain time trial to Stockhutte. Concluding the Tour de Suisse with an individual time trial has become a pretty regular occurrence since the turn of the century. This will be the fourth consecutive year that the race has ended in this way, and based on its predecessors, the 2025 Tour de Suisse should be set for a pulsating conclusion. The general classification script could be completely ripped up and thrown out the window with a mountain time trial of this nature.

In terms of its length, stage 8 is petite, spanning only 10 kilometres in its entirety. However, this doesn’t paint the full picture of the beast that awaits the riders. Starting in Beckenried, there’s less than a kilometre for the riders to build momentum before the road veers upwards very quickly and doesn’t relent until the finish in Stockhütte.

Standing at 9.2 kilometres in length, the climb to Stockhütte averages a savage 8.9%, and this steep aspect of the climb is unwavering throughout. The climb becomes harder towards the top as the final 5 kilometres average 9.9%. Finding a rhythm on the climb early will be key, and being able to sustain it without going too deep into the red zone will be a difficult task. It’s quite simple: to win the 2025 Tour de Suisse, an exceptional time trial here is required.