Almeida battles to second place in Queen stage of Tour de Romandie

Portuguese climber João Almeida delivered a stellar performance in today’s Queen Stage of the 2025 Tour de Romandie, finishing second atop the demanding Thyon 2000 climb. The 128.4 km stage, renowned for its grueling ascent, saw Almeida battle fiercely against Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious), who narrowly clinched the stage victory.

Almeida and teammate Vine strategically positioned themselves to the front, setting a relentless pace on the final ascent and narrowing to favourites group down to a handful of riders. Despite a valiant sprint for the stage win, Almeida was edged out by Martinez in the final meters, with Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team) securing third place.

The Queen Stage, often the decisive point in the Tour de Romandie, lived up to its reputation with intense competition and dramatic shifts in the general classification.

As the race approaches its conclusion, all eyes will be on Almeida and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad as they prepare for the final stage in Geneva. With a strong showing today, Almeida remains a key figure in the battle for the overall title which will be decided in the 17km hilly time trial tomorrow, sitting in third overall at just +3” off the lead of Martinez.

Jay Vine, who was victorious on stage 3 yesterday, will also be hoping for a good showing against the clock as he sits in fourth on GC at +32”.

Almeida: “I think overall today was good, the team did an amazing job. Since the start my teammates were controlling and that gives you a lot of motivation to push harder and keep going to finish the job to the end. I feel like we maximised our situation.

I was good but maybe not feeling 100%  and in the end Lenny was stronger so congrats to him. We’ll go all-in tomorrow for the time trial. In terms of the GC guys I think myself and Jay have a good chance to do well but we still need good legs and  to push as hard as we can. ”

Stage 4 results

1.Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) 3:43:46

2.Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

3.Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) +29”

4.Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +31”

General Classification post stage 4

1.Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) 16:29:56

2.Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) +2”

3.Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +3”

4.Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +32”