Oscar Onley outsprints João Almeida to win stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse

Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) won stage 5 of the 2025 Tour de Suisse after beating João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in an uphill finish.

Onley was able to outsprint Almeida at the top of the very steep climb to Castaneda, the finish of the toughest stage in this year’s Tour de Suisse, after the duo proved to be the strongest on the day.

Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) is the new leader of the general classification, as Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) lost significant time on the stage.

Onley and Almeida finished on the same time, with Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) in third at 23 seconds and new race leader Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) in fourth at 57 seconds. Former race leader Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) finished 25th on the stage, 6:53 behind Onley.

Vauquelin now leads the Tour de Suisse by 29 seconds over Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) in 2nd, and 39 seconds over Almeida in third. Onley sits 4th at 1:21 with Lennard Kämna (Lidl-Trek) the only other rider within two minutes of the race leader in 5th at 1:44.

“I knew I was in good shape and feeling good this week, but obviously with Almeida here, he has been really strong this week so far, and I knew it wasn’t even guaranteed that the win would come from the bunch, with a strong break up front,” said Onley at the end of the stage.

“I don’t win often, and I’ve had quite a few podiums so far this year, so to pull it off today is really nice for myself, for my team and for my teammates because they do a really good job every day. Today was no different, and it’s really nice to be able to pay them back now and again,” Onley said.

“Quite a few of us lost quite a lot of time in the opening stage, so I was quite disappointed with that, but Warren [Barguil] and also the coaching staff and team were supportive of me, and that this wouldn’t make such a big difference by Sunday. Obviously, it's quite hard to think like that at the time, but I just keep trying to chip away every day.”

A strong breakaway of five riders formed, featuring Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Javier Romo (Movistar), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana).

Vlasov was the first ride to summit both the Julierpass and the San Bernardino Pass, and thus in the process, has established himself as a strong contender for the mountains classification.
Behind in the peloton, there was no major action on the San Bernardino pass, but the group was thinned out due to the solid pace set by UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

A significant moment occurred in the general classification on the first ascent up to Castaneda (4.5km at 10%), where the race leader Romain Grégoire was distanced by the main GC group and wouldn’t return to the front of the race. Shortly after the remaining breakaway riders, lead by Bilbao were swept up by the GC group with one final ascent of Castaneda remaining.

It was Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale who took the initiative to push the pace on the lower slopes of the Castaneda as the French team looked to set up their Austrian climber, Felix Gall. With 4.2 kilometres remaining, Julian Alaphilippe lit up the front of the race with an attack filled with former world champion’s typical panache.

Oscar Onley looked strong as he was the first to bridge to Alaphilippe with the likes of Gall, Vauquelin and Almeida lurking behind, unable or unwilling to match the punch of the front duo. Onley’s strength proved too much for Alaphilippe as the Picnic PostNL rider powered clear whilst Alaphilippe was caught by the trio behind. It was also at this point that Almeida injected pace into the chase as he was able to break clear of the others in his pursuit of Onley.

Almeida made the bridge to Onley with just over two kilometres remaining and came to the front to put pressure on the British rider. The elastic never snapped as Onley was able to match the pace and even inject more pace, meaning a sprint finish looked inevitable.

In the end, it was Onley who proved to have the strongest punch on the steep finish, pipping Almeida to the line to take the stage win. It marks the 2nd professional of the British rider's career, and he has kept himself very competitive in the GC, now sitting 4th with three stages remaining.