Elisa Balsamo claims photo finish win on Tour de Suisse Women stage 3

Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) won stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse Women, edging out Mischa Bredewold (SD-Worx) in a tight sprint in Küssnacht, while Marlen Reusser (Movistar) will carry an overall lead of three seconds over Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) into Sunday’s final stage.

It took an assessment of the photo finish to separate Balsamo from Bredewold, with the Italian claiming the decision by the width of a rim from her rival. Balsamo opened her sprint with more than 200m to go and she had just enough speed to claim the win from the 30-strong front group.

Swiss champion Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) was third on the stage ahead of Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), while the almost inseparable Vollering and Reusser came home in fifth and sixth.

The pair tracked one another through the stage, though Vollering managed to claw back a second of her deficit at the Tissot sprint to tee up a tense finale on Sunday.

The tension in the finale in Küssnacht centred on Balsamo’s sprint win. Although the Italian acknowledged that she opened her effort a touch too soon, she was full value for her victory.

“It was really tight, but my teammates worked so hard today that I really wanted to win,” Balsamo said. “I did a super long sprint. Maybe too long, but in the end it was good enough to win.”

The day was animated by an early solo move from Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly), who opened a maximum lead of 1:40 over the peloton. She would only be caught over the top of the ascent up Aegeristrasse with 34km remaining. 

By then, Vollering and Reusser had already traded blows at the Tissot Kilometre, with the Dutchwoman picking up three seconds to Reusser’s two.

Over the Aegeristrasse, the aggressors included Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), but none of the moves gained any traction there, nor did any of the attacks on the run-in, though Nienke Vinke (Picnic PostNL) made a game attempt to forge clear.

There was a late scare for Mavi García (Jayco-Alula), who crashed outside the 3km to go banner, but she made it back on before the finish. It would all come down to the sprint finish, where Balsamo’s speed won the day.

Reusser and Vollering, meanwhile, will bring their battle down to the wire in Sunday’s finale.