Britain’s Adam Yates held on to win the Tour de Suisse after finishing second in Sunday’s closing time trial stage.

Yates’s closest rival was his UAE-Team Emirates colleague, João Almeida, who was fastest on the 15.7km route from Aigle to Villars-sur-Ollon. The Portuguese rider finished in 22 minutes and 23 seconds, but his nine-second advantage over Yates on the day was not enough to take the title.

Having led by 31 seconds at the start of Sunday’s eighth stage, Yates was able to hold on to top spot in the general classification with relative comfort. The Bury-born cyclist claimed wins on the fifth and seventh stages of the race through Switzerland, adding this trophy to the 2023 Tour de Romandie and 2021 Volta a Catalunya.

“I wasn’t sure if I could do it,” said Yates, who was greeted at the finish line by his wife, Lisa, and their pet dog Zoe. “I knew [Almeida] was going to accelerate a little bit there in the end. I just couldn’t accelerate; I was already over the limit so I just tried to hold the pace and thankfully it was enough.”

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The 31-year-old added that his defeat at the 2019 Tirreno-Adriatico, where he lost by one second to Primoz Roglic, had played on his mind. “That has lived rent-free in my head for many years so it’s finally good to win a race and win it with a TT like this,” Yates concluded.

Almeida finished second overall, completing a dominant week for Team Emirates as they continue their preparations for the Tour de France. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) came third on the day and overall, edging out Ineos’ Egan Bernal in the GC. Britain’s Tom Pidcock and Oscar Onley finished sixth and eighth respectively.

Yates – who finished third in La Grande Boucle last year – and Almeida are both likely to be valuable support riders for Tadej Pogacar as the Slovenian bids to complete a Giro d’Italia and Tour double. This year’s Tour de France starts in Florence on 29 June with three Grand Départ stages in Italy.

Source: theguardian.com