The Michaelskreuz was the decisive obstacle on the first stage of this year’s Tour de Suisse Men. 22-year-old Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) attacked at the right moment on the descent taking the first stage by 20 seconds.
The Tour de Suisse 2025 kicked off in dry weather. A 129 kilometre circuit around Küssnacht am Rigi lay ahead. A breakaway group of 29 riders formed in the early stages of the race. The breakaway worked well together and was able to extend its lead to over 3:30 minutes. As the rain poured down Ben O’Connor (Team Jayco AlUla) and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) ramped up the pace and the group was halved.
The KOM at Michaelskreuz signalled an attack by French riders Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Romain Gregoire and Julian Alaphilippe along with Dutch rider Bart Lemmens (Team Visma | Lease A Bike). Lemmens secured the 6 points in the KOM but then it was Romain Gregoire’s time to shine. The Frenchman risked everything on the descent putting himself a few seconds ahead of his three rivals. With an impressive performance to the finish, the 22-year-old left the chasing trio behind by 20 seconds, snatching the yellow jersey.
French dominate – Swiss on the back foot
With Vauquelin in 2nd place and Alaphilippe 4th, two more French riders are well placed in the General Classification. Next crossing the finish line 1:07 minutes behind was the group led by Ben O’Connor. The following group included Matteo Badilatti (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), the first Swiss rider to finish, in 21st place. Marc Hirschi finished a few places behind with a deficit of 3:12 minutes.
Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates XRG) did not get an ideal start in the stage and after crashing was treated by the support vehicle and had to fight his way back into the peloton. Stefan Küng (Groupama FDJ), Silvan Dillier (Alpecin – Deceuninck) and Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) are already well behind in the classification at 11:15 minutes.
