Jordi Meeus powers to sprint win on Tour de Suisse stage 6

Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) won stage 6 of the Tour de Suisse in a bunch sprint in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, beating Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) and Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ).

Danny van Poppel provided an expert and well-timed lead-out for Meeus in the lightly climbing finale. Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) had looked well placed ahead of the sprint but the Belgian champion faded once Van Poppel swooped to the front.

The stage was animated by a four-man break composed of Harry Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) and Mauro Schmid (Soudal-QuickStep).

The presence of the former race leader Grégoire ensured the break was never granted a huge amount of leeway and the Frenchman sacrificed himself ahead of the finale with a huge turn on behalf of his teammate Küng.

The three remaining escapees still had 15 seconds in hand as they entered the final 5km but they were swept up beneath the flamme rouge.

Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) finished safely in the peloton to retain the overall lead, 29 seconds clear of Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) and 39 seconds ahead of Jõao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

“It was definitely a hard week for me so far, because it’s not really my favourite terrain with all the climbs,” Meeus said. “I was pretty disappointed on stage 2 because that was also supposed to be a flatter stage. My legs didn’t feel great early in the week, but they felt better and better day by day.”

The victory was Meeus’ biggest since he won on the Champs-Élysées at the end of the 2023 Tour de France.

“It’s hard to compare,” Meeus said. “But this is just my second win on WorldTour level so I’m super happy to take the win home today.”

The 186km run from Chur to Neuhausen am Rheinf offered a degree of respite after successive days of climbing, and it was always likely to offer an opportunity for the sprinters. That said, the day was not without its obstacles, and De Lie was among the fast men to struggle on the category 2 climbs of Wildhaus and Hemberg early in the stage.

By then, the four-man break of Küng, Sweeny, Grégoire and Schmid had established itself, but their lead remained a tenuous one early on, with Arkéa-B&B Hotels riding to ensure the former race leader didn’t slip back into Vauquelin’s yellow jersey.

The category 2 climbs also saw a spate of counter-attacks, including a spirited effort from Thomas Gloag (Visma | Lease a Bike), but nobody succeeded in bridging up to the break.

Later, Matej Mohoric, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) attempted to forge across, but they too fell short, with the break stretching its lead beyond two minutes.

In the flatter second part of the stage, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Lotto and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe were all prominent in trying to tee up a sprint, though the firepower out in front –Küng in particular – would not be snuffed out easily.

Even when the lead fell to a minute with 30km to go, it was clear that the escapees would go deep into the finale, with Grégoire putting in a final, long turn on behalf of Küng. The gap was down to 15 seconds with 5km to go, but still the leaders battled and Schmid tried a late acceleration beneath the flamme rouge before he was caught.

De Lie, desperately searching for his best form, looked well positioned as the sprint began to wind up, but he faded in the finale, coming home in 16th place.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, meanwhile, timed their run perfectly, with Van Poppel delivering Meeus to victory ahead of Ballerini, Askey and Madis Mikhels (EF Education-EasyPost).