De Vries claims first pro win in Tour de Suisse Women opener
Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike) claimed her first professional win after she beat breakaway companion Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-Suez) in a two-up sprint on stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse in Sondrio.
The winning move took shape on the day’s second climb of Triangia, where De Vries and Dickson forged clear from a break of ten in the company of Urska Zigart (AG Insurance-Soudal), opening a gap of a minute over their erstwhile companions.
An acceleration from De Vries over the other side proved too much for Zigart, with the Dutchwoman joined by Dickson at the head of the race in the finale.
The two leaders had a gap of a minute on the Movistar-led peloton as they began the final ascent of Bordighi. De Vries made several attempts to drop Dickson, but the Briton held firm all the way to the top.
Behind, Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) was among the attackers in the reduced peloton on the climb, and her effort helped to close the gap to 30 seconds by the summit.
De Vries and Dickson negotiated the drop into Sondrio smoothly, however, and they would fight out the win. In the sprint, De Vries had just a touch too much for Dickson to claim her first pro victory and the overall lead.
Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-EasyPost) attacked to take third on the stage, at 29 seconds, while Kim Le Cort (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Sarah Van Dam (Visma) led home the group of GC favourites that included Niewiadoma, Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ).
Result: Tour de Suisse Women
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