Romain Grégoire holds off Tadej Pogacar to win Tour de Suisse stage two as world champion extends lead
Frenchman Romain Grégoire sprinted to victory in Locarno on stage two of the Tour de Suisse, resisting a late surge from world champion Tadej Pogacar, who nevertheless added precious seconds to his overall lead.
Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) won the second stage of the Tour de Suisse on Thursday, holding off a charging Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) by four seconds. The 23-year-old outsprinted a six-rider breakaway to claim his 14th professional victory and his first World Tour win of the season. Pogacar’s late attack on the final climbs carried him to the brink of the stage win but ultimately served only to tighten his grip on the yellow jersey.
How the stage unfolded
A 14-man breakaway formed after 37 kilometres of the hilly 157.7 km loop around Locarno. Among them were Grégoire, former world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Giro d’Italia white jersey Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious). UAE Emirates kept the gap at around two minutes for much of the day, and the break began the final climbs with a 1:45 advantage over the peloton.
On the 3.6 km Fanghi climb, the breakaway split. Six riders emerged at the front, while Pogacar accelerated from the reduced bunch, taking only Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) with him. The duo quickly swept up Eulálio and set off after the leaders.
Pogacar’s attack on the final climbs
With 9 km remaining, Pogacar attacked on the Via Consiglio Mezzano (1.4 km at 8.9 %), shedding all rivals except Vacek. The pair crested the climb just under 30 seconds behind the six breakaway survivors. On the descent and flat run-in to Locarno, they came within metres of the fugitives but ran out of road.
Grégoire, perfectly placed at the final corner 200 metres from the line, launched his sprint and held off Spaniard Marcel Camprubi (Pinarello Q36.5) and Dutchman Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike). Verstrynge finished seventh, while Vacek and Pogacar crossed in sixth and eighth, four seconds down. The group of other general classification contenders, including Richard Carapaz and Andrea Bagioli, lost 28 seconds to Pogacar.
Overall standings after stage two
Pogacar’s advantage grew to 2 minutes 50 seconds over Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and 3 minutes 7 seconds over Bagioli (Lidl-Trek). Vacek moved into fourth place at 4:16, with Finlay Pickering (Team Jayco AlUla) fifth at 4:41 and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) sixth at 4:44, alongside Brandon McNulty and Wilco Kelderman. Grégoire himself sits 25th overall, 10:35 behind.
- Tadej Pogacar
- 0 seconds
- Richard Carapaz
- 170 seconds
- Andrea Bagioli
- 187 seconds
- Mathias Vacek
- 256 seconds
- Finlay Pickering
- 281 seconds
Concern off the bike for the world champion
Pogacar’s focus after the finish shifted away from sport. His fiancée, Urska Zigart, crashed heavily in the earlier women’s stage and was taken to hospital with a broken jaw. As the Slovenian cooled down on the home trainer, he was seen consulting his phone and motioning away a camera directed at him. Stage three on Friday covers 157.4 km starting and finishing in Bad Ragaz, with two first-category climbs in the first half and a flat final 50 km.
