Blanka Vas (Team SD Worx) won stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse Women in the sprint of a group of nine riders after the peloton split in the final. Led out by her teammates Marlen Reusser and Demi Vollering, the Hungarian Champion held off Arlenis Sierra (Movistar Team) and Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ) to take her first Women's WorldTour victory.
Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) had been on a solo breakaway for most of the race but was finally caught three kilometres from the finish.
On the twisty last kilometres, Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) got away with Sierra and Reusser but had to do all the work herself. Vas and Vollering bridged to the front with 1,300 metres to go, followed by another group of four just inside the flamme rouge, and Vas won the sprint.
“It feels really good. I’m really happy it’s a bit unbelievable. Marlen and Demi helped a lot, it was really a team effort. I could not do it without them,” the stage winner said afterwards.
“This was the plan. After a short race like this, I think I am the fastest now,” Vas finished, explaining why her more famous teammates raced in support of her.
How it unfolded
Many riders lined up at the start in Weinfelden with black armbands in memory of Gino Mäder. The stage consisted of three laps of a hilly circuit, with a mountain sprint and an intermediate sprint on each lap.
Chabbey attacked on the first ascent of the Burgstrasse climb, taking maximum points and quickly extending her advantage to over a minute as nobody wanted to take up the chase. Eventually, attacks in the peloton raised the pace, and Chabbey was 26 seconds ahead as she crossed the finish line for the first time.
Despite several more attacks, Chabbey’s gap went up to a minute again at the second intermediate sprint. Vas punctured soon afterwards but was quickly on her spare bike and returned to the peloton.
At 21km from the finish, Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) initiated a move that led to a short-lived chase group of eight riders, and Chabbey entered the final lap of 19.9km with a 46-second advantage.
Team SD Worx took charge of the chase now and had Niamh Fisher-Black push hard on the climb, reducing the gap to 26 seconds and the peloton to less than 30 riders. Vollering and Reusser took over, bringing the gap down to 14 seconds at the ten-kilometre mark, and although Chabbey managed to gain a few seconds again, she was reeled in with three kilometres to go.
Nine riders managed to get away from the rest of the peloton on the final kilometres, and Reusser led Vas through the last two corners 250 metres from the line. Sierra was on the Hungarian’s wheel out of the turn, but a sprint by Vollering forced the Cuban sprinter into the wind.
Vas launched her sprint with 150 metres to go, and although Sierra came close in the end, Vas won the stage. Gasparrini sprinted past a celebrating Vollering to take third place.
Vas also leads the GC going into Sunday’s 25.7-kilometre time trial, four seconds ahead of Sierra and six ahead of Gasparrini. ITT World Championship bronze medallist Reusser is fourth at eight seconds, followed by Vollering at nine seconds.
Results
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