Richard Carapaz, Primož Roglič, and Tom Pidcock are among the other top favourites at the slimmed-down five-day race
One Tour de France warm-up race has already been and gone as the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes concluded in the high mountains over the weekend. Another is still to come as the Tour de Suisse gets underway on Wednesday.
Of course, these races are much more than just warm-ups for the big one in July. The Tour de Suisse is in its 89th edition this year and stands as one of the most prestigious stage races outside of the three Grand Tours.
This year, the race has been reduced from eight days to five, running June 17-21 from Sondrio to Villars-sur-Ollon. Once stretching to even 10 or 11 days, the race’s new length is, in the words of its organisers, an attempt to ensure it can remain “financially sustainable and future-proof.”
Despite the Tour de Suisse’s reduced route, which features a 23.8km time trial and a four-mountain finale on the Col de la Croix, it has still attracted a stellar field of riders. World champion Tadej Pogačar heads up the start list and lines up as the overwhelming favourite to add the overall title to his palmarès.
But there are plenty of other GC hopefuls also heading to Switzerland this week, even if overhauling the Slovenian looks a near-impossible task. Here’s a look at our top contenders for the 2026 Tour de Suisse.
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