Tour de Romandie Féminin preview – Gigante leads the charge in Swiss mountain challenge

The race opens with a short, sharp mountain time trial and continues with a summit finish on day two, making this an edition for the pure climbers. Gigante is at the top of that list, but she will face serious competition: five other riders from the Tour de France Femmes top 10 will roll down the start ramp in Friday’s opener.

The organisers have turned up the difficulty this year with the introduction of a time trial, a high mountain stage, and a punchy finale.

Stage one launches the race straight into the mountains, with a 4.4km time trial. Short it might be, but in no way is it sweet, climbing 291m at an average 6.2%, though at least the altitude of almost 1,300m shouldn’t represent too many problems.

Starting in Huémoz and climbing to the ski resort at Villars-sur-Ollon, the climb isn’t technical, though the steepest gradients - up to 13% - come at the bottom and there’s even a downhill section in the middle, so whether riders opt for a time trial rig or a road bike will be fascinating.

We stay in the mountains for day two, a mostly flat stage between Conthey and La Tzoumaz, it has a very nasty sting in the tail. The 123.3km stage rides two circuits in the valley, just about reaching the outskirts of Sion and including the ascent of the third category climb at Chamson. Then, with 13km to go it’s uphill all the way, and with an average gradient of 8.1%. This is a day for the pure climber, though it also one for a rider who can build a rhythm as the gradient is fairly even all the way up.

Stage three is pretty lumpy too, though rather than one big climb, there are five shorter efforts, making it a stage for the punchy sprinters, or maybe the climbers with a good punch.

Starting and finishing in Aigle, the 122km route passes the UCI’s headquarters, though rather than start there they roll out from the city centre. The climbing begins after 45km, and it’s pretty full on from there on in, the peloton tackling the first two ascents - Le Châtel and La Rasse - twice. Before the final climb to Antagnes, which tops out 11km before the finish.

This is the only stage with any meaningful descending, so look out for teams trying to take advantage here, even if none of the downhills are incredibly technical.

It was almost but not quite for the Australian at the Tour de France. She eventually finished sixth overall, but her performance on the penultimate stage up the Col de la Madeleine and her two stage wins at the Giro d’Italia Women make her the out and out favourite for at least one stage win and the general classification here. 

A former national time trial champion, she can measure her effort to perfection, so day one shouldn’t prove too hard, though it is the stage two mountain top finish where she should excel.

She lost her Tour podium position on the final day descents so expect her to be attacked on stage three, but she may have the GC sewn up by then.

Fifth overall at the Tour de France and it could have been so much more. The New Zealander had a great Tour, riding cleverly and not showing herself until disaster struck on stage six, when a mechanical on the road to Ambert saw her lose two minutes on the rest of the favourites.

She made up for it on the penultimate day with a brilliant, resilient ride on the Col de la Madeleine where she finished third on the day, moving herself back into the overall top 10.

Fisher-Black is more than just a pure climber, she has good kick for someone of her slight build and has become increasingly tactically astute. She’s reasonable time trialist too, so she'll head to Switzerland looking for at least a podium finish.

The Polish rider has been on the podium at every edition of the Tour de France Femmes, and is obviously one of the world’s best climbers, she will hope to have held onto the form which saw her take third place at this year’s Tour where she rode brilliantly. 

One of the most consistent riders in the peloton, she finished second behind Vollering in her only previous participation in Romandie. Her weakness could be the time trial, where she is not as accomplished as some of her rivals, though a good performance on Friday will give her confidence.  

Canyon have sent as strong team to Switzerland, so don’t be surprised if we see Niewiadoma-Phinney allow the likes of Antonia Neidermaier, Neve Bradbury or Ricarda Bauernfeid their chance.

While Canyon//SRAM-zondacrypto field a strong squad, FDJ SUEZ also bring two genuine GC contenders in Juliette Labous and Évita Muzic, with Labous holding the edge over her compatriot, particularly in the time trial.

A former French champion in the discipline, Labous had a brilliant Tour, finishing seventh after a consistent performance, which saw her grow into the race and work herself almost to a standstill for Vollering. She should do well in Friday's time trial and though she 12th on the Col de la Madeleine during the Tour, the even nature of climb to La Tzoumaz suits Labous much better. She has proven herself in the high mountains before, so expect a determined performance. 

Another team which may deploy a two pronged attack is Fenix-Deceuninck, and while Yara Kastelijn is a very capable climber, Pauliena Rooijakkers is arguably the better of the two, especially on long steady climbs like Saturday’s to La Tzoumaz.

Rooijakkers will have been disappointed with her ride to ninth overall at the Tour and seemed to be running out of steam as the race progressed. However, if she’s recovered well and the team use Kastelijn effectively, don’t be surprised if she’s stood on the final podium on Sunday afternoon.