Tour de Suisse 2025 Stage 1

June 15, 2025 The opening stage of the 2025 Tour de Suisse is the last preparation race before the Grand Boucle in July. At only 129KM, it is a short day with the riders completing two different circuits around Küssnacht, the start and finish town nestled in between Lake Lucerne and Lake Zug. It would be a relatively straightforward day if it weren't for the spiteful climb of Michaelskreuz. The first time up the 3KM, 9% climb comes after just 21KM of racing. The next 85KM are gently rolling as they ride along Lucerne's lake front, around to Brunnen and back through Goldau before passing through the finish line to head towards Michaelskreuz once again. The final time up the climb starts with 18KM to go. Once at the top, they plunge down, back into Küssnacht to the finish. The start was fast and the race was split on the first time up Michaelskreuz. With 100KM to go, Julian Alaphilippe of Tudor Pro Cycling and Felix Engelhardt of Jayco AlUla were leading with a group of around 20 riders in the chase and the peloton a bit further back. Riders were still attacking from the peloton when live pictures started. At some point in the first 20KM, Henri Uhlig of Alpecin-Deceuninck and one of the pre-race favorites, Jan Christen of UAE-XRG, went down in a crash. Both were able to remount but Christen's kit was in tatters. The large chase group was brought back with 95KM to go leaving just Alaphilippe and Engelhardt ahead but the aggression continued in the peloton. Another large group formed of at least 25 riders that included potential GC contenders like Kévin Vauquelin of Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Georg Zimmermann of Intermarché-Wanty, Ben O'Connor of Jayco AlUla, and Felix Großschartner of UAE-XRG. The group caught Alaphilippe and Engelhardt and quickly built a lead of 2 minutes 30 seconds. They kept pressing on with more momentum than the bunch and with 70KM to go, they were up to 3 minutes 30 seconds on the bunch being led by Soudal Quickstep and UAE-XRG. The race was in a holding pattern and remained effectively unchanged but with 48KM to go, a heavy thunderstorm was pushing its way through Küssnacht which cast the race course in dark shadows. The rain arrived a few kilometers later and it wasn't long before we saw the first crash. Quinn Simmons of Lidl-Trek hit the deck on a roundabout and had a hard chase to get back into the breakaway but managed to do so. Head lights from the team cars lit the way as the race passed through Küssnacht with 40KM to go on their way out to find the Michaelskreuz climb for the final time. Engelhardt and Luke Durbridge did a lion's share of work in the break for O'Connor along with Matej Mohorič of Bahrain Victorious but the gap did come down to 2 minutes 50 seconds with 20KM at the start of the Michaelskreuz. O'Connor did the majority of the riding in the break up the climb but by the top, it was Bart Lemmen of Visma-Lease a Bike, Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ, Vauquelin, and Alaphilippe at the front with O'Connor a few seconds back. They retained 2 minutes 30 seconds on the peloton which would be more than enough to battle for the stage win between themselves. The descent was beautifully smooth tarmac but with the rain, it had turned into a glistening sheen. Grégoire was most adept on the downhill and had forced open 5 seconds to Lemmen, Vauquelin, and Alaphilippe by the bottom. Try as they might, the gap only went out and Grégoire soled to the finish 20 seconds ahead of Vauquelin in second, Lemmen in third and Alaphilippe in fourth. O'Connor got stuck in the middle of a few groups and came across the line fifth at 1 minute 7 seconds. The peloton, which contained most of the GC favorites, was over 3 minutes down on the stage. Come the end of the week, they might rue giving so much time to the likes of O'Connor and Vauquelin but it was such a hectic stage that there was not much anyone could do.