It was a tough start for the riders at the Tour de Suisse Women, as the four-day stage race got underway with a short mountain stage in the Swiss Alps. It was a familiar sight on the final climb to Villars-sur-Ollon, as we once again saw Demi Vollering and her SD Worx-Protime team dominate the race with an emphatic victory on the opening stage.
After her team finished their final pull in the closing kilometres of the climb , the Dutch rider was hesitant to instantly go on the attack and it was Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) who forced the issue with a move of her own. Vollering followed the Italian rider and they worked together to close the gap to Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM), who was the lone breakaway rider at the head of the race.
They caught and passed the Swiss rider with the flamme rouge in sight and as they entered the final kilometre, Vollering came to the front with one final acceleration to distance Realini, with the Lidl-Trek rider unable to hold the wheel. She then continued to push on all the way to the line, taking every second possible for the general classification, before sitting up to celebrate her ninth win of the season so far.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Starting and finishing in the hilltop town of Villars-sur-Ollon, the opening stage of the Tour de Suisse Women measured just 58.6km in length, but with 1,530 metres of climbing packed into that short distance, it was always going to be a difficult stage for the riders.
They began the day in the rain with climbing from the start on the slopes of the Col de la Croix, which left the non-climbers with nowhere to hide, with many riders distanced in the opening kilometres. The WorldTour teams were well-positioned at the front of the peloton, as attacks were expected to go early on such a short stage.
The first attack went with just under 52km to go, as a rider from the Swiss national team attempted to go off the front of the main group. Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) was immediately on the wheel, with Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) and Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Cannondale) also marking the move.
Chabbey then counter-attacked, with neither Spratt nor Kadzow willing to follow her as she accelerated out of the saddle. The Swiss rider persisted with her effort as she tried to build a gap on the peloton behind her and as she went over the top of the climb, her gap to the main group sat at around ten seconds.
On the wet descent off the top of the climb, Chabbey was able to pick her line through the corners, whilst in the peloton behind her gaps began to form, as some riders were more cautious than others going downhill.
By the end of the descent, Chabbey had extended her gap to around a minute and a half over the peloton. The main bunch then began to regroup after the descent in the short valley between the two climbs, which saw the lone breakaway rider’s gap rise to just under three minutes as the race went through the intermediate sprint with around 15km to go.
At the foot of the final climb, Chabbey’s advantage over the peloton remained largely unchanged, but as SD Worx-Protime began to come to the front to set up Demi Vollering, the gap to breakaway slowly began to be whittled down.
As Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) finished her final pull on the front with just under 6km to go, Vollering looked around to assess the situation, as she was now isolated in the main group.
Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) then came to the front and increased the pace, with several riders attempting to follow her. The group quickly began to fracture though, with Vollering the only rider who was able to hold the Italian’s wheel. The pair quickly dropped those around them and set off in search of Chabbey up the road, exchanging turns as they made their way up the climb.
It was not long before they caught and passed the Swiss rider, who just managed to hang on to take maximum points at the top of the climb despite having exhausted legs. The road continued to climb to the finish though, as Vollering launched her decisive attack as they passed under the flamme rouge, with Realini unable to respond to such a big acceleration after all of the work that she had done.
Having cracked the Italian, Vollering continued to push on with the goal of taking as much time as possible on those behind her. In the final hundred metres, she put in a final acceleration to take as many seconds as possible before sitting up as she crossed the finish line.
Behind her, Realini limited her losses to just 22 seconds to Vollering, whilst Chabbey hung on for third place on the stage at 46 seconds down. The rest of the riders came across the line in ones, twos and other small groups, with some of them looking like they had really suffered on that final climb.
Vollering will now go into the leader’s jersey for the stage 2 mountain time trial, which starts in Aigle and once again finishes with the climb to Villars-sur-Ollon. The stage should favour the Dutch rider and it is likely that she will take more time on those around her in the general classification.
RESULTS: TOUR DE SUISSE WOMEN 2024, STAGE ONE, VILLARS-SUR-OLLON › VILLARS-SUR-OLLON (58.6KM)
1. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, in 1:47:10
2. Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +22s
3. Elise Chabbey (Swi) Canyon-SRAM, +46s
4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +58s
5. Kim Cadzow (NZl) EF Education-Cannondale, 1:03
6. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, 1:17
7. Marion Bunel (Fra) St Michel-Mavic-Auber93
8. Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon-SRAM
9. Urška Žigart (Slo) Liv AlUla Jayco, all at same time
10. Amanda Spratt (Aus) Lidl-Trek, +1:29
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE ONE
1. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, in 1:47:00
2. Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +26s
3. Elise Chabbey (Swi) Canyon-SRAM, +49s
4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +1:08s
5. Kim Cadzow (NZl) EF Education-Cannondale, 1:13
6. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, 1:27
7. Marion Bunel (Fra) St Michel-Mavic-Auber93
8. Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon-SRAM
9. Urška Žigart (Slo) Liv AlUla Jayco, all at same time
10. Amanda Spratt (Aus) Lidl-Trek, +1:39
