Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) won the 2024 Tour de Suisse Women, also taking the final stage in a sprint of four riders ahead of second-placed Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), Neve Bradbury in third and Kasia Niewiadoma (both Canyon-SRAM).
Vollering's overall lead wasn't in real danger on the final stage as a select group caught the breakaway in the final. Niewiadoma attacked from this group with 10.4km to go, and when Longo Borghini, Vollering and Bradbury bridged to her, the decisive move was formed.
Despite countless attacks on the last 10 kilometres, the stage came down to a sprint where Vollering was the strongest. Bradbury was the overall runner-up at 1:28, two seconds ahead of Longo Borghini.
"I didn’t expect to win today, but it was really nice to sprint again, I didn’t do that for a long time, and I really like to sprint in a final like this. It was a really strong battle with the girls in front,” said Vollering after enjoying the final stage.
Winning the race was extra special for Vollering in her home away from home as she lives and trains in Switzerland between races.
“It’s kind of a home race, so I’m really happy that I could win. They were really nice stages, and it’s a good feeling already towards the Tour de France because we have a lot of climbing there also," she said, looking ahead to her key season objective. "It’s always good to win climbing races before your big goal."
How it unfolded
There were two classified climbs on the 127.5-kilometre stage that started and finished in Champagne on the shores of Lake Neuchâtel. The first came after only 11km, and Lidl-Trek set a hard pace here already, reducing the size of the peloton to about 30 riders.
Urška Žigart (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) went away on the descent and Nienke Vinke (Team dsm-rirmenich PostNL) then bridged to the Slovenian. They built a two-minute advantage with 77km to go. Then a group of six riders attacked from the peloton: Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM), Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx-Protime), Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ), Brodie Chapman (Lidl-Trek), Rosita Reijnhout (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Steffi Häberlin (Switzerland) quickly got away, but not before Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) had jumped across the gap.
This chase group steadily reduced the gap to the two frontrunners while the peloton took it easy, allowing a group of dropped riders to return and strengthen SD Worx-Protime, among others, as Chantal van den Broek-Blaak immediately went to work at the front of the peloton.
As their advantage dwindled, Vinke and Žigart sat up and waited for the chase group. At the start of the final climb, 5.3km to La Vue des Alpes, the peloton was two minutes behind. Niedermaier, Fisher-Black, and Labous emerged as the strongest on the steep lower slopes, dropping the other riders.
In the peloton, Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) set a furious pace, immediately reducing the group to only 11 riders. As the climb flattened out a bit, Žigart, Häberlin and Muzic returned to the front before an acceleration by Niedermaier dropped Häberlin again.
Niedermaier led Fisher-Black over the top of the climb with Labous, Žigart and Muzic just metres behind. Further back, Longo Borghini attacked halfway up the climb; Vollering, Niewiadoma, and Bradbury followed the Italian Champion while Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Cannondale) struggled to keep up before making her way back on the last part of the climb.
The four GC favourites were 1:19 behind at the QOM, having caught Vinke and Reijnhout on the way. Häberlin returned to the front group on the descent, and the gap between the two groups shrunk to only 20 seconds before a second downhill section down to Lake Neuchâtel.
Cadzow crashed on this second descent. She was able to finish the stage, 3:55 minutes behind, but dropped down to eighth place overall.
After some hard chase work by Chapman, the two groups eventually merged with 12.5km to go. After a first unsuccessful attack, Niewiadoma made another move, and when Žigart could not close the gap, Longo Borghini, Vollering and Bradbury went off in pursuit, quickly bridging to Niewiadoma.
This was the group that would race for the stage win, and Canyon-SRAM played their cards well by having Bradbury and Niewiadoma take turns to attack, leaving it to Longo Borghini and Vollering to close the gaps.
In the end, though, it came down to a sprint. Niewiadoma led the group through the final turns with Longo Borghini, Vollering and Bradbury on her wheels.
Longo Borghini launched her sprint at the 200-metre mark, but Vollering quickly came past to take her third stage victory in four days. Following 42 seconds later, Häberlin won the group sprint for fifth place.
On top of the general classification, Vollering also won the points classification. Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) won the mountain jersey, Bradbury the U25 jersey, and Canyon-SRAM also won the team classification.
Results
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