Marlen Reusser outsprints Demi Vollering to win Tour de Suisse Women stage 1

Marlen Reusser (Movistar) won stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse after beating Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) in a two-up sprint in Gstaad. The pair escaped with 62km remaining after the race had been blown to pieces on the category 1 ascent of the Jaunpass and they came home some 1:41 clear of their closest chasers.

The gap would have been in excess of two minutes had Reusser and Vollering not engaged in some brinksmanship in the final kilometre, with the pair slowing almost to a standstill as they prepared themselves for the sprint.

After Vollering pegged back Reusser’s attack with a shade over 2km to go, she planted herself on the Swiss rider’s wheel ahead of the sprint. Vollering ultimately opened her sprint from distance, but Reusser had enough speed to come past and claim the first leader’s jersey of the Tour de Suisse Women.

Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon–SRAM zondacrypto) won the sprint for third ahead of Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) and Urška Žigart (AG Insurance–Soudal).

Reusser’s Movistar squad had been prominent in splitting the field on the day’s first two climbs, and the Swiss rider was part of a group of six that led over the summit of the Jaunpass. On the descent, Reusser sensed her opportunity and she jumped clear, with Vollering following soon afterwards.

Their alliance was smooth, those tensions in the final kilometres notwithstanding, and they look set to be the two dominant figures at this Tour de Suisse Women.

“It all went perfect, perfect, perfect, so I’m super happy,” said Reusser, who downplayed her daring attack. “It was really our plan to make it a very small group or even go alone after the Jaunpass – we didn’t care. If the climb is hard, it’s going to be a small group of chasers, with not so much cohesion. With not too big of an effort you could get a lot, so we thought it was not so risky.”

In the overall standings, Reusser leads Vollering by four seconds, with Niewiadoma 1:51 back in third.

There was a brisk start to the Tour de Suisse Women with the peloton hitting the category 2 ascent of Saanenmöser immediately after the start Gstaad. Movistar were to the fore on the 5km climb, beginning a winnowing process that would ramp up in intensity on the following Jaunpass.

The peloton began to fragment in earnest on the 8km ascent, and Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance–Soudal) was the main aggressor on the upper reaches of the climb. Her repeated efforts helped to form a group of six riders on the approach to the summit, with Vollering, Reusser, Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), Urška Žigart (AG Insurance–Soudal) and Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon–SRAM zondacrypto) following her forcing.

Even though there was still two-thirds of the stage left to race, this felt like a defining move, and Reusser sensed her opportunity on the fast, sweeping descent. She shot clear with 62km remaining and Vollering was wise to the danger, bridging up alone shortly afterwards.

That pairing formed an elite tandem at the head of the race, and they quickly established a lead of a minute over their erstwhile breakaway companions. Vollering and Reusser continued their collaboration in the valley that followed, and they had 1:15 in hand on their closest pursuers Fisher-Black, Niewiadoma and Žigart as they began to tackle the long false flat towards the finish in the final 30km.

A larger group containing Mavi Garcia (Liv-Alula-Jayco), Gigante and Marta Cavalli (Picnic-PostNL) struggled to find any cohesion a further minute or so behind, and they never really looked like dragging themselves back into contention.

Vollering and Reusser had 1:40 in hand on the chasers by the time they reached the two bonus sprints in the Tissot Kilometre with 16km to go, and their working alliance extended to dividing the seconds – Vollering led through the first sprint and Reusser through the second, giving them five bonus seconds apiece.

Behind Niewiadoma zipped away to claim two bonus seconds, though by then it was long since apparent that Vollering and Reusser would fight out the stage win among themselves.