Once again, the sprinters came away empty-handed at the Tour de Suisse. Although the second stage of the tour was largely flat, two short climbs in the final stretch shook up the race. After 157.7 kilometres, Romain Grégoire (Groupama - FDJ) claimed victory from a breakaway group that held on to a lead of just a few seconds over Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) at the finish.
Vacek is the only rider keeping up with Pogacar
A total of seven riders eventually reached the final kilometres with a lead of just a few seconds over Pogacar and Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek). Pogacar had previously broken away from most of his rivals on the day’s final climb, ten kilometres from the finish. Only Vacek was able to keep up with him.
Coming out of the final bend, Grégoire launched his sprint from the front and was uncatchable right to the finish line. Second place went to Marcel Camprubi (Pinarello – Q36.5), ahead of Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike).
Pogacar crossed the finish line in eighth place, four seconds behind. In the general classification, Pogacar extended his lead to 2:50 minutes. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) was unable to keep up in the final stretch, but remains in second place in the general classification. Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) remains in third place, now 3:07 minutes behind. Vacek is fourth, 4:16 minutes behind.
Tour de Suisse 2026 – Stage 2 results
Here’s how the second stage of the 2026 Tour de Suisse unfolded:
After a number of attacks, the day’s leading group had formed after around 30 kilometres, consisting of Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin - Deceuninck), Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious), Ewen Costiou, Romain Grégoire (Groupama – FDJ), Bauke Mollema (Lidl – Trek), Filippo Zana (Soudal – Quick-Step), Finlay Pickering (Jayco – AlUla), Chris Hamilton (Picnic – PostNL), Bart Lemmen (Visma – Lease a Bike), Marco Schrettl (XDS – Astana), Milan Vader, Marcel Camprubi, Fred Wright (Pinarello – Q36.5) and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor).
Politt puts in a lot of work in the attack
Earlier, Louis Vervaeke (Soudal - Quick Step), riding in an earlier group, claimed the mountain points on the day’s first climb, the Monte Ceveri (2nd category). The final breakaway group eventually built up a lead of up to three minutes. In the peloton, UAE Team Emirates – XRG controlled the chase, with Nils Politt, amongst others, leading the pursuit for a long time.
Consequently, the gap to the breakaway group narrowed steadily. Before the climb to Fanghi (3rd category), which lay 18 kilometres from the finish, the breakaway’s lead stood at 1 minute 30 seconds. When Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) stepped up the chase, the group was reduced to around 25 riders.
Pogacar launches an attack in the final stretch
Meanwhile, in the leading group, Eulalio launched an attack, which led to the group being whittled down. Only Costiou, Grégoire, Camprubi, Vader, Lemmen, Hamilton, Zana, Pickering, Eulalio and Verstrynge were ultimately able to keep up. At the mountain classification, the lead was still 40 seconds.
On the subsequent climb up to Via Consiglio Mezzano, McNulty was the first to attack. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) followed him, whereupon Tadej Pogačar also caught up and broke away with Vacek. They subsequently caught up with Eulalio, who had fallen back from the leading group.
From the summit of the Via Consiglio Mezzano, the remaining breakaway riders and the three chasers led by Pogacar were separated by around 30 seconds. However, the gap continued to narrow as the leading group began to play their cards close to their chest. By the Flamme Rouge, Pogacar and his team-mates had almost caught up, but in the end the group pulled ahead and Grégoire launched his sprint at just the right moment.
