As it happened: Heartbreak for breakaway on final climb as race leader dominates the day at the Tour de Suisse 2026

2026-06-21T16:09:36.105Z

There have been some really good gains in the GC on the final day, the biggest being from Lemmen who jumped up eight places to take 10th place in the final standings. Sergio Higuita (XDS-Astana) up four to ninth, Enric Mas (Movistar) up eight to 12th, Riccitello up three to seventh plus Foss and Van Wilder both going up two to fourth and fifth. Bagioli the big loser dropping 16 positions from fourth to 20th.

2026-06-21T16:05:10.426Z

Final GC

1. Pogačar (UAD) 15:08’43”
2. Carapaz (EFE) +6’32”
3. Vacek (LTK) +6’53”

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T15:47:31.254Z

Lemmen does, indeed, finish in third on the day with no sign of Quintana or any other riders.

2026-06-21T15:47:06.406Z

Martinez crosses the line very soon after him and almost collapses across the line. Lemmen should take third on the day.

2026-06-21T15:46:30.618Z

Tadej Pogačar wins stage 5 and the overall title of the Tour de Suisse 2026. Three stage wins to his name and he goes to the Tour de France as the undisputed head and shoulders above the rest favourite.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T15:45:00.547Z

500 metres to go and it is yet another win for Tadej Pogačar incoming.

2026-06-21T15:44:40.514Z

Tadej Pogačar catches Lenny Martinez with about 800 metres to go and he just drops him immediately.

Pogačar accelerates yet again and he is going to catch Martinez inside the final 1000 metres of the race. Just 7″ gap, now. 2’26” back to Carapaz, Vacek and co.

2026-06-21T15:43:01.795Z

I think the race leader went earlier than he wanted when Scotson accidentally split the group leaving the yellow jersey and Carapaz off the Riccitello led bunch.

2026-06-21T15:42:27.759Z

Pogačar seems to now be struggling to get to Martinez but he should. He has dropped into the small cog for the first time this week.

2026-06-21T15:41:05.848Z

2km to go now for Martinez with Pogačar, now swaying on the bike a bit, is just 15″ from the race lead on the stage.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T15:39:16.206Z

Martinez is doing a phenomenal ride but he is all over the bike and is grimacing.

2026-06-21T15:38:08.647Z

3km to go for Martinez and the gap to Pogačar is now at 28″.

2026-06-21T15:37:45.272Z

Vacek is closing in on the Carapaz group. He is on some superb form. They are over 2 minutes down on the leaders but it is still a big fight.

2026-06-21T15:35:37.197Z

4km to go for Martinez but he is unlikely to take the day as Pogačar is now 34″ away.

2026-06-21T15:34:04.032Z

Pogačar floats by Quintana and he about to catch Lemmen. He is absolutely flying up this climb. The speed he is going at is astonishing.

Lemmen is now 28″ behind Martinez with Pogačar at 48″, Quintana in that gap as well.

2026-06-21T15:30:40.025Z

Martinez is holding a minute on Pogačar with 6km to go.

2026-06-21T15:28:15.954Z

Lemmen and Quintana are still pushing on but Pogačar is closing. He catches Schmid, Gaffuri and Fisher-Black.

2026-06-21T15:27:34.728Z

Martinez extends his gap to Pogačar who appears to be overheating as he pours an entire bidon over his back.

2026-06-21T15:27:03.070Z

Pogačar catches and passes Mollema.

Martinez kicks on with Lemmen trying to follow. Quintana just riding his own tempo.

Tadej Pogačar (UAD)
Richard Carapaz (EFE)

But the Ecuadorian is already gapped by the race leader.

Louis Vervake (SOQ)

The green KOM jersey goes solo from the chase group and is closing in on the leaders rather quickly.

2026-06-21T15:23:12.623Z

Benoot returns to the front for Riccitello. Very interesting that Decathlon-CMA CGM are being so aggressive.

2026-06-21T15:22:14.128Z

Back in the peloton, Wellens has returned and is pushing hard for Pogačar. 1’56” between them and the leaders.

The leaders now have 22″ on the chasers with the peloton at 1’49”.

2026-06-21T15:19:48.885Z

The chasing group now start chasing but this may already be too late as Lemmen takes the sprint in Ollon.

Bart Lemmen (TVL)

He follows a motorbike as the break completely sat up. Lenny Mattinez and Nairo Quintana follow him.

The gap sits at 2’00” yet again. The riders are close to the intermediate sprint in Ollon (Route d’Aigle) that comes at the base of the climb.

2026-06-21T15:12:01.823Z

It is all coming down to the final climb to Villars-sur-Ollon on the final stage of the Tour de Suisse Men 2026.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T15:08:09.781Z

Back onto proper descending again and the gap drops once more at 1’40”.

The peloton are now almost back to 2 minutes from the breakaway.

2026-06-21T14:56:32.089Z

The race is on the plateau of the descent now. It is seeing the gap to the peloton grow again to 1’44”.

2026-06-21T14:53:46.982Z

That last ascent of the climb was dedicated to the late Gino Mäder who died after crashing at this race in 2023. A superb talent who was lost far too soon and is missed by many.

1. Martinez (TBV) 20pts
2. Mollema (LTK) 14pts
3. Vervaeke (SOQ) 8pts
4. Quintana (MOV) 6pts
5. Schmid (JAY) 4pts

2026-06-21T14:47:24.228Z

Double caught by the peloton.

2026-06-21T14:47:14.628Z

Martinez leads over the top of the final full ascent of the Col de la Croix ahead of Mollema and Vervaeke.

2026-06-21T14:46:34.907Z

Reminder of the leaders

Lenny Martinez (TBV)
Bauke Mollema (LTK)
Nairo Quintana (MOV)
Finn Fisher-Black (RBH)
Louis Vervaeke (SOQ)
Mauro Schmid (JAY)
Mattia Gaffuri (TPP)
Bart Lemmen (TVL)

2026-06-21T14:45:16.192Z

Callum Scotson and Tiesj Benoot of Decathlon-CMA CGM are pushing the pace with the time gap dropping to 1’22” to the break and they have also dropped Wellens from UAE.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T14:42:14.019Z

Fourth on GC, Bagioli, has been dropped by the peloton. He isn’t made for the big mountains and that is showing. His teammate, Vacek, is still in the peloton on Carapaz’s wheel.

2026-06-21T14:39:14.047Z

Decathlon-CMA CGM come to the front of the peloton for Matt Riccitello. Interesting move to possibly send him on the attack before the peak of the Col de la Croix.

The gap at 2’04” back to the peloton as Politt also peels off and is distanced by the bunch.

2026-06-21T14:36:50.123Z

Double has been distanced by the break for the moment. He has done a lot of work for Schmid.

2026-06-21T14:36:11.931Z

Because Vervaeke took 2nd in the 2nd Tissot sprint after winning the 1st, it means he wins the Tissot watch. I’m sure you’re all thrilled by that news.

2026-06-21T14:34:23.991Z

Further abandons

Domen Novak (UAD)
Ben Swift (NCI)

Novak basically did his job for Pogačar and just decided to stop after the start/finish line.

2026-06-21T14:28:21.767Z

Lemmen dropped by the break as Martinez is also out of the back but he appeared to be having issues with the bike rather than his legs.

2026-06-21T14:27:21.488Z

The pace is upped by the peloton led by Nils Politt (UAD).

The break head over the start/finish line and head into the last lap.

2026-06-21T14:21:56.542Z

August caught by the peloton.

2026-06-21T14:21:24.668Z

Eulálio has been dropped by the break.

2026-06-21T14:20:49.755Z

More abandons

Artur Kluckers (TUD)
Jonas Rutsch (LOI)
Milan Vader (PQT)
Colby Simmons (EFE)

2026-06-21T14:19:53.226Z

The gap continues to go up and is now at 2’34”.

2026-06-21T14:18:50.103Z

It is around 37 degrees Celcius in the valley bottom.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T14:14:23.320Z

Vervaeke and Schmid share the wins in the Tissot KM as Mollema gets back in again.

2026-06-21T14:11:31.773Z

Mollema, Eulálio, Lemmen and Fisher-Black are struggling off the back of the breakaway.

2026-06-21T14:10:22.131Z

Crash

Aleksandr Vlasov (RBH)

Just a touch of wheels and down he goes. He hit the road on his own.

2026-06-21T14:07:46.896Z

UAE Team Emirates-XRG are pushing hard in the peloton and Novak has just swung off the front. However, The gap has grown to the largest of the day at 2’21”.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T14:02:30.281Z

The gap goes beyond two minutes for the break again.

2026-06-21T14:00:22.389Z

Multiple riders getting dropped out of the back of the peloton.

2026-06-21T14:00:05.157Z

Double seems to be working for Swiss national champion and teammate, Schmid. The new impetus means the gap goes back up to 1’57”.

2026-06-21T13:58:43.484Z

Onto the climb and August has been distanced from the lead group with Fisher-Black also starting to lose touch.

Peloton now 1’41” off the break.

2026-06-21T13:50:57.566Z

The riders are about to start the final full ascent of the Col de la Croix. Will Pogačar have a go this time up?

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T13:48:18.417Z

The riders reach the bottom of the descent for the penultimate time. There is one more full ascent to come which also includes the Tissot KM, not that the bonus seconds really matter to the break, or even the peloton apart from for the riders sitting around the podium positions behind Pogačar.

2026-06-21T13:43:08.083Z

There seems to be an easement on the amount of riders abandoning.

2026-06-21T13:38:02.932Z

Now the riders are on the plateau the gap has dropped again to 1’31” as Tim Wellens and Domen Novak of UAE Team Emirates-XRG lead the way.

The breakaway now has 2’00” on the peloton for the first time.

2026-06-21T13:31:12.975Z

Eulálio is struggling to follow on the steep and technical bits of the descent but he is back on again now.

2026-06-21T13:29:38.773Z

Vervaeke now has 44 points and leads by 26 points over Mollema. He will win the KOM jersey if he finishes in the time limit.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

1. Vervaeke (SOQ) 20pts
2. Mollema (LTK) 14pts
3. Double (JAY) 8pts
4. August (NCI) 6pts
5. Schmid (JAY) 4pts

The gap goes back out to 1’50” for the riders out front.

2026-06-21T13:22:02.945Z

The gap drops to 1’35”.

2026-06-21T13:16:34.770Z

Currently 12 riders either didn’t start or have abandoned the race today.

2026-06-21T13:15:13.296Z

Abandon

Felix Ørn-Kristoff (LOI)

2026-06-21T13:14:27.190Z

The break head over the top of the Col de la Croix for the second time and they hold roughly the same advantage as they did on the descent of the previous lap.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T13:10:05.687Z

Abandon

Oscar Riesebeek (APT)

This is just brutal.

2026-06-21T13:09:47.711Z

The riders are nearing the top with 1’50” splitting the break and bunch.

2026-06-21T13:04:00.005Z

5km from the top of the climb.

2026-06-21T13:02:53.812Z

Yet another abandon

Clement Russo (GFC)

2026-06-21T13:00:28.128Z

Into the final 100km and the small gap appears to suggest that Pogačar wants to go out with a bang and take another stage win as well as the overall title.

The peloton are still just sat around two minutes down on the 11 man break.

2026-06-21T12:58:48.774Z

Abandon

Davide De Pretto (JAY)

Another one gone. This is brutal.

2026-06-21T12:58:29.542Z

The heat is baking down on the riders and a lot of them are really suffering out there.

2026-06-21T12:54:55.127Z

The riders roll through the start/finish line in Villars-sur-Ollon for the first time since roll-out earlier this afternoon.

2026-06-21T12:53:38.629Z

More abandons

Markel Beloki (EFE)
Marijn van den Berg (EFE)

The difficulty of the stage coupled with the heat is proving too much for a lot of riders.

2026-06-21T12:43:32.583Z

Mathieu van der Poel (APT) put on a terrific showing in the ITT yesterday, missing out on the win by 0.7 of a second. But, the UCI has deemed that former world road race champion showed too much to viewers after appearing topless on the ‘hot seat’ and fined him 500 CHF despite the temperatures being in the high 30s…

2026-06-21T12:40:55.223Z

Abandons

Menno Huising (TVL)
Dion Smith (NSN)

2026-06-21T12:40:23.351Z

These two riders have a lot to race for today. Carapaz holds onto 2nd place by just 5″ over Matthias Vacek (LTK). However, the Czech rider is not a climber. It will be interesting to see how the best young rider copes with the terrain today. His teammate, Andrea Bagioli (LTK) is just 19″ behind him with Brandon McNulty (UAD) the next closest at 49″.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T12:37:15.585Z

The gap is just below 2 minutes for the leaders. They need way more gap if they’re going to have a chance of being involved at the end of the stage.

2026-06-21T12:29:51.934Z

And onto the climb they go! This full ascent is 19.6km long with an average of 7% and a max of 17.9%.

2026-06-21T12:25:01.390Z

The race has almost reached the bottom of the descent. They have a very brief period on the valley bottom and then they’re back to climbing the Col de la Croix again. This time it is the first of two full ascents with our first passage of the finish line.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T12:23:19.045Z

August is the best placed rider in the break. He sits in 14th place at 7’36” down on Pogačar.

2026-06-21T12:22:18.379Z

Lead group:

Afonso Eulálio (TBV)
Lenny Martinez (TBV)
Andrew August (NCI)
Bauke Mollema (LTK)
Nairo Quintana (MOV)
Finn Fisher-Black (RBH)
Louis Vervaeke (SOQ)
Mauro Schmid (JAY)
Paul Double (JAY)
Mattia Gaffuri (TPP)
Bart Lemmen (TVL)

Peloton +1’40”

2026-06-21T12:15:41.737Z

It looks like Bart Lemmen (TVL) is also in this lead group…

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The gap expands to 1’25” between the break and the peloton with Schmid, Double, Vervaeke, Mollema and Martinez the only confirmed riders in the group of 11 riders.

2026-06-21T12:04:21.527Z

The group comes back together as 11 riders again with 55″ on the peloton. They are on a plateau around halfway down the descent at the moment.

2026-06-21T12:01:48.995Z

There are two other riders with Schmid now as they look to push on clear of the rest.

2026-06-21T11:59:27.672Z

Mauro Schmid (JAY) is out front and has just pushed clear of the rest of the break on the descent.

1. Vervaeke (SOQ) 6pts
2. Mollema (LTK) 4pts
3. Martinez (TBV) 3pts
4. Schmid (JAY) 2pts
5. Double (JAY) 1pt

2026-06-21T11:57:57.447Z

How early is too early for Pogačar to go on the attack?

2026-06-21T11:57:36.988Z

The gap does seem to be coming down again. UAE Team Emirates-XRG don’t seem to want to let this go.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The first climb of the day is done and dusted with 11 riders clear of the peloton.

2026-06-21T11:55:36.874Z

The green KOM jersey of Louis Vervaeke (SOQ) has made it into the group that slimmed down to 11 riders as they went over the top with just 15″ on the peloton.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T11:54:53.601Z

Multiple moves now coming out of the peloton with this quickly becoming difficult to control. There is now a lead group of around 15 riders as they are about to peak the climb.

2026-06-21T11:51:28.276Z

The seven leaders have just 10″ on the peloton.

2026-06-21T11:50:55.323Z

Seven riders are clear as the top of the first ascent of the Col de la Croix.

There are around 6 riders trying to break off the front of the peloton.

2026-06-21T11:45:37.578Z

Abandon

Alexander Kamp (UXM)

Sad to see. The Danish rider didn’t last very long.

2026-06-21T11:45:04.170Z

Mechanical

Attila Valter (TBV)

This happened at the same time as Haller’s crash and may be related.

2026-06-21T11:44:24.921Z

Make sure to read the report of the last stage of the women’s Tour de Suisse, it was quite the finale to a superb race…

2026-06-21T11:42:50.399Z

Crash

Marco Haller (TUD)

Not sure how that happened. Hopefully he is okay to continue.

2026-06-21T11:42:16.711Z

UAE Team Emirates-XRG have taken up the pacing with no moves going away just yet as they take on the steepest part of the climb.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-21T11:40:28.339Z

Non-starters

Matthew Brennan (TVL)
Julian Alaphilippe (TUD)
Alec Segaert (TBV)
Lucas Hamilton (NCI)
Sjoerd Bax (PQT)

Racing is underway and it is all together for the moment.

2026-06-21T11:27:36.528Z

The neutralised start is in just a couple of minutes.

2026-06-21T11:26:10.510Z

The riders have yet another very sunny day to race in with temperatures expected at a max of 29°c in Villars-sur-Ollon, it will be hotter in the valley bottom.

2026-06-21T11:24:35.800Z

Here is what the riders have on the menu today. Over 4000 metres of climbing on just one climb that is taken on three times, twice in full with the third being split. The riders start in Villars-sur-Ollon and ride the second half of the Col de la Croix and then at the finish they ride the first half, finishing in Villars-sur-Ollon.

(Image credit: Tour de Suisse)

2026-06-21T11:22:00.161Z

It is fair to say that, with his lead of 4’22” over Richard Carapaz (EFE) in 2nd place, Pogačar looks like he has won this year’s race, ticking off yet another WorldTour race off the list. That said, anything can still happen!

2026-06-21T11:21:05.608Z

It was a dramatic ending to the time trial yesterday with Tadej Pogačar (UAD) taking the stage by less than a second from Mathieu van der Poel (APT).

Hello and welcome to the final stage of the 2026 men’s Tour de Suisse. We have already had the women’s race come to a dramatic end on the course around Villars-sur-Ollon. Now it is the turn of the men.