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Team UAE rider Joao Almeida edged past overnight leader Kevin Vauquelin to win the Tour de Suisse after a superb closing time trial. <\/b><\/p>\n
Portugal’s Almeida beat Austrian Felix Gall by 25 seconds and Frenchman Vauquelin, who finished the final stage fourth, by one minute and 40 seconds. <\/p>\n
“I think I started too fast,” said Almeida after the closing 10.1km uphill time trial.<\/p>\n
“I overpaced in the beginning. In the end, I hoped to have enough gas to push in the last kilometre, but in the end it was not necessary.<\/p>\n
“It’s a lesson: you should never give up. Sometimes things go wrong and nothing is perfect, but you need to keep trying. <\/p>\n
“We kept trying and we did it.”<\/p>\n
Almeida backed up his stage victory on Saturday when he reduced Vauquelin’s lead to 33 seconds.<\/p>\n
Another dominant display on Sunday handed Almeida a winning margin of one minute and seven seconds over Vauquelin in the overall standings.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old, who lost last year’s race by 22 seconds, will now set his sights on supporting team-mate Tadej Pogacar in the defence of his Tour de France title.<\/p>\n
“I’ll have time to enjoy this win and I’ll be ready for the Tour de France,” Almeida said.<\/p>\n
“I’ll support Tadej Pogacar there and hope we can get more great wins.”<\/p>\n
Britain’s Oscar Onley finished the final stage and the overall race in third.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n