Demi Vollering sprinted to her third stage victory in four opportunities at the Tour de Suisse, as the Dutchwoman also took overall victory in Switzeland.
The SD Worx-Protime rider out-sprinted Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) and Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM) at the end of a lumpy day in Champagne, which ended in a four-up sprint. Fourth was Bradbury's teammate, Kasia Niewiadoma.
Vollering has now won four Women's WorldTour stage races in a row, including eight stages at the Vuelta España Femenina, Itzulia Women, the Vuelta a Burgos, and now the Tour de Suisse.
Bradbury finished second overall on general classification, 1:28 behind Vollering, the second time she has finished second overall at a WWT race, and Longo Borghini came in third, a further two seconds back.
"Today, I didn't expect it, but it was really nice to sprint again," Vollering said post-race. "I didn't do it for a long time, and I really like to sprint in a final like this, It was a really nice, a nice battle with the girls in front. A strong battle.
"It's really nice, because it's kind of a home race of course. I'm really happy I could win. It was a really nice feeling before the Tour de France. It's always nice to win climbing races before your big goal.
"Today I could really gamble, it was not up to be. It was a really easy position for me today. Once Lidl-Trek started to work it was nice, and it was nice that all the girls fought to come from the back, and I'm really thankful for them."
How it happened
A lumpy day in western Switzerland promised some brutal racing on Tuesday, and so it proved. Early attempts to establish a breakaway failed, but after the first climb of the day, the second-category Col des Etroits, just 30 riders remained in a severely reduced peloton.
With 99km to go, Urška Žigart (Liv AlUla Jayco) attacked, followed by Nienke Vinke (dsm-firmenich PostNL). On winding terrain soon after, a split in the peloton saw seven riders form a group in front of the bunch: Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM), Brodie Chapman (Lidl-Trek), Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ), Rosita Reijnhout (Visma-Lease a Bike), Steffi Häbberlin (Switzerland), Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx-Protime), and Aniek van Alphen (Fenix-Deceuninck). They were soon joined by Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich PostNL).
The presence of Labous and Niedermaier threatened the position of Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) on the virtual podium. SD Worx-Protime controlled the race from the peloton, in the service of race leader Demi Vollering.
With 61km to go, Vinke was caught by the chasing eight, with Žigart soon after also following suit.
Labous attacked from group one on the second classified climb of the day, the La Vue des Alpes, as Longo Borghini attacked from the group of favourites behind.
Thanks to some heroic work from Brodie Chapman (Lidl-Trek), the group of favourites was united with the lead group with 13km to go.
Immediately, there were attacks from Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), who was followed by Vollering, Bradbury, and Longo Borghini.
This quartet kept racing to the finish, with multiple attacks coming from Niewiadoma, in an attempt to distance the trio, and also secure Bradbury's second place overall.
In the final, Longo Borghini launched first, but Vollering came round her in the closing metres to win. Behind, Bradbury secured third place on the day to get the bonus seconds needed to stay in second overall.
Results
Tour de Suisse 2024 stage four: Champagne > Champagne (127.5km)
1. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, in 3:17:53
2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek
3. Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon-SRAM
4. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM, all at same time
5. Steffi Häbberlin (Sui) Switzerland, +42s
6. Evita Muzic (Fra) FDJ-SUEZ
7. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL
8. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) SD Worx-Protime
9. Rosita Reijnhout (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike
10. Urška Žigart (Slo) Liv AlUla Jayco, all at same time
General classification after stage four
1. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, in 9:03:17
2. Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon-SRAM, +1:28
3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +1:30
4. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM, +2:24
5. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +3:47
6. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon-SRAM, +4:11
7. Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +5:33
8. Kim Cadzow (NZl) EF Education-Cannondale, +5:44
9. Urška Žigart (Slo) Liv AlUla Jayco, +6:00
10. Evita Muzic (Fra) FDJ-SUEZ, +6:49
