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João Almeida sprung to victory on stage six of the Tour de Suisse, out-sprinting his teammate Adam Yates in the final.
Yates attacked with just over 3km to go, but his UAE Team Emirates teammate Almeida joined him in the final kilometre, and then sprinted away to victory, claiming four seconds advantage.
UAE Team Emirates, as a result, remain in control of the race, with Yates 27 seconds ahead of Almeida in second place. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) remains in third, 1:28 behind the leader.
The original 151.1km route had been cut down to just 42.5km due to snow on the climbs, with the race essentially descending to the foot of the day’s final climb, the Blatten.
“I think we were both quite strong, it was good,” Almeida said post-stage. “He attacked quite far from the finish, and I was just on the wheel of Skjelmose, which was perfect for me. I caught him without bringing the other riders. I’m really happy with this victory.
“I think it’s positive, as long as we do first and second it doesn’t matter who, I think we’re both happy. As long as we do good teamwork, and respect each other, as we always do, that’s the main thing. At the end of the day, the team wins. Keep the focus the next two days, and hopefully we can make it.
“Of course I want to win all the time, but of course I respect the team and my teammates.”
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Two more stages remain, another mountains test on Saturday, before an uphill time trial on Sunday.
More to follow…
How it happened
With just 43km of action on Friday, it was almost guaranteed that it would not be a day for the breakaway.
However, there was a lot of attempts to get up the road early on, with a quartet managing to escape: Frank van den Broek (dsm-Firmenich PostNL) Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), Alexis Renard (Cofidis) and Anders Foldager (Jayco AlUla).
Renard did not last long up the road, but the leading trio’s advantage grew to over a minute, despite the stage being short.
UAE Team Emirates, the squad of race leader Adam Yates, provided the impetus in the peloton behind, ensuring that Van den Broek, Bissegger and Foldager were kept on a short leash.
Foldager was the first to fold, leaving Renard and Bissegger. The latter attacked to ensure he won the sprint for a Tissot watch – something he confirmed later – before Van den Broek became the last rider up the road.
However, he was soon swallowed up by the UAE-led peloton, with Isaac del Toro putting on the pace, before his leader Yates attacked with 3.2km to go.
There was never a decisive gap, however, with a small collection of favourites, including João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) chasing.
As Yates went under the flamme rouge, Almeida attacked from the chasing group, caught Yates, and then went past him in the final 300m to take the victory.
Everyone lost time on Yates, with the most notable being Enric Mas (Movistar) and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), who both lost 47 seconds.
Results
Tour de Suisse 2024, stage five: Ulrichen > Blatten (42.5km)
1. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, in 55:13
2. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates, +4s
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +9s
4. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +15s
5. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +35s
6. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +40s
7. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, +47s
8. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, both at same time
9. Pelayo Sánchez (Esp) Movistar, +54s
10. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, both at same time
General Classification after stage six
1. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates, 16:39:46
2. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +27s
3. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:28
4. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +2:24
5. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, + 2:38
6. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +2:42
7. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +3:28
8. Oscar Onley (GBr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +3:37
9. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, +4:01
10. Pelayo Sánchez (Esp) Movistar, +4:28
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