The 2025 edition of the Tour de Suisse may have saved its toughest challenge for last. The final time trial over ten kilometers featured only 500 flat meters, with the climb averaging a steep nine percent — terrain suited to the pure climbers.

Tiesj Benoot, Bart Lemmen and Tijmen Graat all finished inside the top 35, after Thomas Gloag and Julien Vermote had safely completed their time trials earlier.

“Tijmen and Bart wanted to see how far they could push themselves today”, sports director Maarten Wynants said afterwards. “They really went for it, but unfortunately, a spot within the top 35 was the best they could achieve. Still, it was a good learning experience for them to ride a time trial of this caliber in a race situation.”

Looking back on the week, Wynants added: “We started very well, which put us in a good position in the GC and gave us certain expectations. Unfortunately, later in the week we lost Menno Huising and Steven Kruijswijk. The guys coming from the Giro were really riding on their limit. Tiesj was here mainly with the Tour de France in mind. He came through this test well, despite a crash that left him with some abrasions. Unfortunately, in terms of results, there wasn’t much more in it than what we achieved now”, the Belgian concluded.