Tour de Suisse 2024: Another UAE gala: Almeida wins mountain time trial - Yates is overall winner

Even on the final 8th stage of the Tour de Suisse 2024, no rider was able to break the dominance of UAE Team Emirates in the mountain time trial. With a fabulous time of 33:23 on the 15.7-kilometre route from Aigle to Villars-sur-Ollon and an average speed of 28.205 km/h, Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) snatched the day's victory. The Portuguese rider was unstoppable, especially on the final section of the long climb. He thus won his second stage at the Tour de Suisse 2024. The overall winner Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) was nine seconds slower than the Portuguese rider, with Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) in third, 21 seconds behind.

UAE dominance at the Tour de Suisse 2024

On stages 5, 6, 7 and 8, Adam Yates and Joao Almeida took the first two places between them, proving that they were clearly the best riders of the tour. Both can celebrate two stage wins each. In the overall classification, last year's winner Mattias Skjelmose was a clear three minutes behind the UAE duo in the end. The discovery of the tour through Switzerland is Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), who finished a strong fourth in the time trial on stage 8. After numerous strong performances, the 22-year-old finished fifth overall.

"I'm delighted with the stage win and my first victory in a time trial. It was almost impossible to take the overall victory today - Adam was simply too strong. I'm happy to have finished second overall." - Joao Almeida in the winner's interview

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Tour de Suisse 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 8

1. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) 33:23
2. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +0:09
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +0:21
4. Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:38
5. Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:51
6. Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) +0:56
7. Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar) +1:22
8. David de la Cruz (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) +1:26
9. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:30
10. Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:41

The overall standings of the Tour de Suisse 2024

1. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) 20:18:49
2. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +0:22
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +3:02
4. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +3:12
5. Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) +3:31
6. Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) +4:36
7. Enric Mas (Movistar) +5:01
8. Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +5:40
9. Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike) +6:31
10. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +6:35

How the 8th stage of the Tour de Suisse 2024 went

Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) set the first benchmark time in the mountain time trial, taking the hot seat unchallenged for a long time. Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels), 13 seconds behind, was the only rider who could even begin to keep up with Caruso. Then came Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ).

Martinez is only intercepted late

The young Frenchman showed his class on the final section of the long climb in particular, pulverising Caruso's previous best time by almost a whole minute. Martinez' performance was in a class of its own at this point, and he was also able to make himself comfortable in the hot seat for a long time. No rider really got dangerously close to him - until it was the classification riders' turn.

New best times tumble

As the top ten were on their way, it became clear right at the start of the climb that the classification riders were likely to decide the victory among themselves. First it was Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), who was able to beat Lenny Martinez's time for the first time after a strong time trial. However, the Brit was not able to enjoy his lead for too long. Matthew Riccitello came flying in and snatched Pidcock's place in the sun.

Skjelmose pushes his way onto the podium

A little later, Mattias Skjelmose crossed the finish line, again beating the young American's previous best time. And because Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) missed out on a top place and lost over a minute to the Dane, Skjelmose overtook Bernal in the overall classification and took third place on the podium. However, it was not enough for Skjelmose to win the day. After a strong last kilometre, Joao Almeida pulverised the Dane's time. Overall winner Adam Yates was unable to match his team-mate's time, but in the end it was enough for second place in the mountain time trial.