With two consecutive stage victories, Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) has established herself as the undisputed GC leader and looks poised to win the overall title at the Tour de Suisse Women, which would continue a winning streak that has seen her also win Vuelta España Femenina, Itzulia Women and Vuelta a Burgos.
“I approached the time trial like a normal race, knowing that normally, during a climb, I only get stronger. I rode myself completely empty in the last kilometres. I’m good at that. Luckily, it was enough for the win, and I was also able to gain time in the general classification,” Vollering said in a team press release after winning the stage 2 time trial.
“I tried to ride a stable time trial, giving everything in the last four kilometres. In those kilometres I stopped looking at the power meter and just rode as fast as possible to the finish. You can make a lot of plans on such a tough climb, but in the end, it’s about getting the most out of yourself. That means you also have to ride a lot on your gut.”
Vollering now has a buffer of 1:26 minutes to Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), and the last two stages have flat finishes, so barring accidents, Vollering should keep the yellow leader’s jersey to the end of the race.
“If you look at the classification, I am indeed in a good position,” Vollering added. “The main task for our team will be not to let a big group get away in the next two days. We have good riders who can do well on the terrain of the next few days. For some riders in our team there are also chances for success here. I hope we can ride two more good stages here with Team SD Worx-Protime. I have a lot of confidence in that.”
The remaining podium spots in the overall classification are less certain. Gaia Realini is only two seconds behind her Lidl-Trek teammate, but the two Italians will not race against each other. Instead, they have to ward off the challenge of Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Cannondale).
The 22-year-old New Zealander is improving race by race. After a tenth place overall at the Vuelta Femenina, she was fifth on stage 1 and third on the stage 2 ITT, moving up to fourth in GC, only 11 seconds behind third-placed Realini.
Behind Cadzow, there is a bigger gap to fifth place Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) at 2:14 minutes, followed by Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) at 2:40 minutes. The 21-year-old German was her team’s best performer on the ITT and now ranks ahead of Neve Bradbury in ninth place, Élise Chabbey slid to tenth and Kasia Niewiadoma in 12th.
After her stage 1 breakaway, which brought her third place overall, Chabbey said that the ITT didn’t suit her and that she planned to go for a stage victory in the last two days. This will now have to be balanced with supporting Niedermaier’s GC position.
Following strong ITTs, Lidl-Trek has another two riders in the top-ten with Amanda Spratt at 3:28 minutes and Brodie Chapman at 3:41 minutes, though their own GC places may fall by the wayside if needed to protect Longo Borghini and Realini.
Liv-AlUla-Jayco’s Urška Žigart dropped to 11th place overall at 4:26 minutes, while Femke de Vries, a mid-season signing for Visma-Lease a Bike, moved up to 13th place, 4:34 minutes down.
Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx-Protime) sits 13 seconds behind De Vries, followed by Marion Bunel (St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93). The 19-year-old French climber finished seventh on stage 1 but lost 3:37 minutes on the ITT and is now just over five minutes down on Vollering.
