Jay Vine Shines with Stage Win and Mountains Classification
MaY 4, 2025
UAE Team Emirates-XRG closed out a stellar week of racing by capturing the overall title at the 2025 Tour de Romandie, with Portuguese climber João Almeida claiming the general classification victory following a confident final stage in the individual time trial in Geneva. The team’s performance was further underlined by Jay Vine’s third-place overall finish to compliment his victory on Stage 3, the mountains classification win, and UAE Team Emirates-XRG securing the team classification.
Almeida: “Of course, I feel very happy. The goal was to win the race. Unfortunately, I didn’t win a stage, but we were always in the front, and that’s what matters. I’m super happy for the overall win. I need to thank the whole team; they did a really good job, and we can be proud of it.
What counts is the last day, right? So I think it was the right day. To be honest, I was struggling the whole week; I was never feeling 100 per cent, but I gave my best, and I never gave up. Sometimes it’s all about your mindset.”
The sixth and final stage of the Tour — a 17.1 km individual time trial in Geneva — was won by Belgian time trial specialist Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–QuickStep), who delivered a near-flawless ride to claim the stage win. However, all eyes were on the general classification, where João Almeida produced a measured, powerful effort to finish second on the stage, just 12” down.
Australian Jay Vine contributed mightily to the team success this week. He claimed victory on Stage 3 to Cossonay after launching a decisive solo attack in the final kilometer. His aggressive riding throughout the mountainous stages earned him the King of the Mountains jersey and propelled him to third place overall by the race’s conclusion.
This Tour de Romandie campaign adds to the Emirati squad’s outstanding 2025 season, bringing their total number of wins to 37. The team continues to build momentum ahead of the Giro d’Italia which will get underway in Albania next weekend.
Final General Classification
1.João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) – 16:50:44
2.Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) – +26”
3.Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) – +41”
Stage 5 results
1.Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) 20:33
2.Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +12”
3.Alberto Bettiol (Education First) +18”
