May 3, 2025
Almeida & Vine animate race on climb to Thyon 2000
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 favorites 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 the final stage in Geneva which will be decided in the 17km hilly time trial tomorrow.
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”
