Tour de Suisse Women stage 2 LIVE: Will the hilly finale see more GC attacks?

The gap continues to rise, now up to 55 seconds. Neither rider represents any kind of GC threat, as Cipressi started the day 12:01 down whilst Vanpachtenbeke is at 18:27.

The two-up break is over the top of the unclassified descent and speeding down the far side towards the bonus sprint.

And now it's doubled to 40 seconds. Seems like we've got our break of the day.

20 second gap for the two breakaways,

Not clear how the crash happened in the middle of the peloton, maybe a touch of wheels.

The yellow jersey could get back on her bike pretty fast and supported her teammates is quickly back in the bunch.

Crash

And the yellow jersey, Femke de Vries, is down.

Here's a first photo of the breakaway. They're hovering between the 10 and 15 second mark right now.

Yet more attacks from the bunch, and the gap's dropping again, back to 10 seconds.

And there are three counter-attackers, but they're brought back.

The gap is now up to 20 seconds. This is the one unclassified climb before the finale, so it makes sense for moves to try to go here.

Despite the relentlessly fast pace as we get deeper into the race, two rider break tries to go clear on a rising road at 68 km to go: Carlota Cipressi (Human Powered Health) and Margot VanPachtenbeke (Lidl-Trek).

It's a very sunny day in southern Switzerland and the peloton is rolling along a typically broad, well-surfaced road. To judge by the first TV images not much wind.

72 kilometres to go

Bunch still all together. Will it stay that way til the climbs at the end?

A shot of the race leader before today's start

Enjoying our live race coverage? Subscribe to Cyclingnews for an all-access pass to our unrivalled reporting of WorldTour racing, bike tech and exclusive in-depth features. Plus, access to the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on-the-go!

Still no break, by the way, with a brisk average speed of nearly 45km right now.

With just three teammates, it's going to be interesting to see how race leader De Vries and Visma handle the other GC riders and their attacks.
"We will see, we will see, I don't think we have to control it, we have to be sharp and follow the right moves," De Vries says. "And we'll be good."
Looking further ahead and her prospects of winning overall, De Vries points to Marlen Reusser (Movistar) as one key challenger. "I really don't know, the time trial is really Marlen's speciality and she can gain a lot of time on me then so we just have to fight and give everything on that day and then we'll see how we approach the final stage. I think I have a good gap and that's a really nice position to start from. It's too soon to say if I can win it."

Race leader Femke de Vries has a quick chat this morning with CyclingPronet before the start, and she had this to say about her first pro win and race lead in the Tour de Suisse:
"I had a bit of trouble falling to sleep because I was so happy with the win, but I had a good night and I feel ready for today."
"We have a small squad but a really strong squad and I'm really looking forward to today. This leader's jersey in a WorldTour race is something else."
As for whether she'll be tested today by the rest of her rivals, she points out the route "is a bit less hard than yesterday, easier in the beginning. It could get a bit tactical."
"Also I have Sarah [Van Dam] in the finale and yesterday she showed she was really strong. So we have good cards to play."

94 kilometres to go

The race is ten kilometres old and the peloton remains all together for now.

Race organisation website is reporting an abandon for unspecified reasons: Linda Zanetti (Swiss National Team).

Meanwhile the first attacks are beginning on stage 2, but nobody's clear yet. Bunch still together.

If you want to catch up with what happened in yesterday's dramatic race opener...
Tour de Suisse Women: Femke de Vries outsprints Lauren Dickson to claim first professional victory on hard-fought stage 1

On the day's menu:
Km 60.5: Bonus Sprint: Lodrino

Km 61.4: Bonus Sprint: Lodrino

Km 82.5: Sprint: Cugnaso

Km 91.9: Climb: Fanghi (Cat.3, 3.5km, 7%)

Km 97.2: Climb: Via Consiglio Mezzano (Cat.3, 1.4km, 9%)

Km 105.6 Finish: Locarno

Racing underway

And stage 2 of the 2026 Tour de Suisse Women, Locarno-Locarno, 105.6km is officially underway

The men's and women's stages of the Tour de Suisse have a near-identical finale, by the way, although the men also have to face a Cat.2 climb early on.

Riders are moving onto the neutralised section, 4.1 kilometres before racing proper gets underway.

And here's how the overall classification is looking right now, courtesy of FirstCycling

A reminder of the classification leaders:

GC: Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Points: Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Mountains: Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike)

BYR: Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly)

Teams: FDJ United-SUEZ

Racing is due to get underway at 0932 CET for the 92 riders in the race.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse Women