Romain Grégoire wins rain-soaked stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse

Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) claimed the opening stage of the 2025 Tour de Suisse and race lead after attacking from a select group on a wet descent in the stage's finale. He was apart of a huge breakaway group consisting of 29 riders, which forged clear of the peloton and pulled out an extensive gap, which was not going to be closed.

Grégoire attacked on the descent after the final climb of the stage, having pulled away on the climb with Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike), and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), who finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th on the stage respectively.

This marks the 8th victory of the Frenchman's professional career and one of the biggest and most impressive too. 

Eventually, a group of 29 riders established themselves in a monstrous-sized breakaway. Some of the riders who featured in this move included: Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious), Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla), and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor).

The weather played its part, and there were plenty of crashes, including one for Quinn Simmons in the breakaway with around 45 kilometres remaining. With the bad weather conditions, and the big gap that the huge group established. It became clear that the peloton would not be catching the breakaway, and the first stage win would be going to one of the 29 riders out front.

Inside the final 40 kilometres and it was Jayco AlUla who were strong contributors to the pace setting in the breakaway, looking to set things for Ben O’Connor, who was set to be a big gainer on the day. Luke Durbridge and Felix Engelhardt put in strong shifts on the front of the group and were a big factor in why the peloton was unable to close the gap.

On the final climb of the day, Ben O’Connor set the initial tempo before Julian Alaphilippe launched an attack with 15 kilometres remaining in typical swashbuckling fashion. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike), and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) proved to be the strongest riders alongside Alaphilippe as the quartet pulled away from the rest, and the rain lashed down.

Over the summit and Vauquelin kicked again, but it was on the descent where Grégoire pulled clear. From here, a game of cat and mouse pursued as Alaphilippe was the biggest contributor to the chase, with the gap shortening to only a few seconds, it was touch and go as to whether Grégoire would hold on.

In the end, the gap grew, as Gregoiré claimed the stage whilst behind, Vauquelin finished 2nd, Lemmen 3rd, and Alaphilippe 4th, all 20 seconds behind the stage winner. Pre-race favourite João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finished in the peloton a massive 3:12 behind Gregoiré, time which the Portuguese rider will need to make up if he is to win the general classification as many anticipated.