As it happened: Tour de Suisse Women stage 3 sees bunch sprint decide one flat day of race

Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse Women.

The unofficial start is at 0910 CET with racing for real getting underway at 0918.

The most likely option on the cards for today's 120.8 kilometre stage is the one bunch sprint of the 2026 edition. But after two GC days and with a time trial and a whopping mountain stage this weekend, the breakaways will likely be equally keen to impact.

They'll have a great chance to get away as soon as the flag drops at 0918 CET, too, given there's a short but very steep opening climb, the Sankt Luzisteig (2km, 101%) right at the beginning. Curiously enough, it's not classified for the mountains classification, but it'll still hurt the legs and maybe act as a springboard for an early move.

A reminder of our race classification leaders:

GC: Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ)

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

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

BYR: Sarah Van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Teams: EF Education-Oatly

And the riders are now underway on the neutralised section.

Just over three kilometres of neutralised to ride before racing proper gets underway.

While we're waiting for the start, here's our report on yesterday's dramatic stage, which saw a second leader emerging in as many days and plenty of late attacks.

Tour de Suisse Women: Elisa Longo Borghini wins hilly stage 2 and takes GC lead with attack on final climb in Locarno

Racing underway

And stage 3 of the 2026 Tour de Suisse Women, Bad Ragaz-Bad Ragaz, 120.8 km long and with 1094 metres of elevation gain, is officially underway.

Bunch still together in the opening few hundred metres, but given there's an unclassified climb about to start, that may well change soon.

Meantime here's the overall standings after yesterday's stage, courtesy of FirstCycling

One early attacker, Megan Arens (Picnic Post NL), with a 20-second gap. Some riders dropped on the steep slopes of the Sankt Luzisteig

Arens gap is now up to 30 seconds.

She's on the descent of the Sankt Luzisteig, after which we have a mostly flat stage. Bunch very strung out right now.

Arens is 6:05 down on GC so she is certainly not an overall threat, but it remains to be seen if more riders get across on the flatter part that follows. Otherwise, this could be a very long solo move.

We're off the descent of the Sankt Luzisteig and the peloton is slowing notably according to race radio. Gap still at 30 seconds for Arens.

One confirmed DNS for now by the way: Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal). Žigart completed the stage, but a terrible crash late on left her with a fractured jaw.

Gap is up to 45 seconds. Getting to the now-or-never point for anybody who wants to bridge across to Arens for what could be the break of the day.

108 km to go

Counter-attack by a lone rider, but the peloton wasn't too happy about that. 45 seconds the gap for Arens.

Gap has dropped to 25 seconds and there's a small group of counter-attackers, six riders going clear.

Crash in the bunch. At least five riders down.

Some riders dropped after the crash and seven riders counter-attacking.

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Good news. All riders involved in the crash have restarted, according to race radio.

Seven riders closing down on the one race leader, Arens, just 20 seconds back. The main peloton is at 55 seconds.

Meantime here's a shot of the race classification leaders from today's start.

Arens joined by the seven chasesrs, so that's eight riders in the lead.

On today's menu

Km 50.8: Climb: Kobelwald (Cat.3, 1km, 10%)

Km 79.1: Bonus Sprint: Rüthi

Km 82.5: Sprint: Cugnaso

Km 103.8: Sprint Sevelen (Tissot)

Km 104.8: Sprint Sevelen (Tissot)

Km 120.8 Finish: Bad Ragaz

Here's the eight riders in the break:
Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal)

Alice Towers (EF Education-Oatly)

Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-SUEZ)

Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek)

Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco)

Megan Arens (Picnic PostNL)

Femke Markus (SDWorx-Protime)

Katharina Sadnik (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Le Court-Pienaar is the best placed on GC, at 1:13 on race leader Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) so likely they won't let it go far too up the road.

Current gap at 94 kilometres to go for the eight leaders is 1:00

UAE and Canyon SRAM are leading the bunch.

Gap coming down

The gap is shrinking to just 45 seconds

And here's a shot of Arens on the attack early on, before she was joined by the seven other breakaways.

Gap for the eight ahead is currently hovering around 1:05 seconds.

Le Court-Pienaar race leader on the road

Having dropped to 45 seconds, the gap for the eight ahead is now 1:35, making breakaway Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) - 1:13 down on GC- race leader on the road.

The only rider who doesn't seem to be collaborating in the break is Visma-Lease a Bike's Katharina Sadnik, which might well be because she is protecting the interests of teammate Sarah Van Dam, Best Young Rider, and third overall.

Two abandons have been reported by the organisers, both due to a crash earlier on the stage: Aromitalia Vaiano riders Lucia Brillante and Petra Zsanko.

71 kms to go

1:55 the gap

The eight breakaways are now on the one classified climb of the day, the Kobelwald (Cat.3, 1km, 10%).

They're riding at a steady pace on the climb's 13% slopes, which is kind of logical given they all want to stay together to make sure the break stays away as long as possible.

Megan Arens (Picnic PostNL) takes top points on the Kobelwald, with zero opposition from the other seven. The gap's been squeezed to 1:24.

The peloton trundles over the top in its turn, 1:13 back.

On sunny days like this and with scenery like this, you can think of worse places in the world to hold a bike race...

Take that back about Katharina Sadnik (Visma-Lease a Bike) not working in the break by the way, she's just done a couple of good turns in the group of eight, and their advantage is back out to 1:25.

Riders going back for bottles from their team cars. It's looking like it'll be a warm day again in Switzerland.

Some words from race leader Elisa Longo Borghini courtesy of Eurosport this morning from the start, pointing out she's never, despite a long and distinguished career, never been at the top of GC in the Tour de Suisse before.
"It's my first yellow jersey and it's pretty cool to wear it, I hope to keep it by the end of the day."
"It could be a breakaway stage, there are not so many sprinters, but we'll see."
"For sure the TT will be tough and the last stage too, so staying safe and saving energy is the priority today."

1:38 the gap

With 62 kilometres to go

There was only ever 1,094 metres of vertical climbing on this stage and there's only about 400 metres left to go in that total in the last 60-odd kilometres remaining. But it's worth noting that the last kilometre finish is actually slightly uphill. Just a couple of percentage points at most, but it could definitely have a knock-on effect on any hypothetical bunch sprint.

Gap is dropping now to 1:25

While Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) is the biggest hypothetical threat on GC, the bunch won't have failed to notice that Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-SUEZ) is also in the move. Fifth in the Tour de Suisse back in 2024 and a former Giro d'Italia Donne podium finish, she's definitely someone the GC teams won't want to get too much time either.

The chase begins in earnest

Into the final 50 kilometres and there's a much more concerted effort coming from the bunch now to bring back in the eight, who are stepping up their pace in turn as well.

A shot of the eight

Canyon-SRAM and Human Powered Health both helping UAE Team ADQ on the front now, but for the moment the gap is staying stubbornly around the 1:20-1:30 mark

We're coming towards the first sprint of the day at Rüthi

But to be honest, it's as if it wasn't there. Rather than time bonuses or points, the eight's only goal is to stay away as long as possible, and they simply thunder through with no fighting to be first.

A fast-moving bunch, led by ADQ, blasts through at 1:16.

A reminder of the day's eight leaders:

Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal)

Alice Towers (EF Education-Oatly)

Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-SUEZ)

Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek)

Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco)

Megan Arens (Picnic PostNL)

Femke Markus (SDWorx-Protime)

Katharina Sadnik (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Still to come

Km 103.8: Sprint Sevelen (Tissot)

Km 104.8: Sprint Sevelen (Tissot)

Km 120.8 Finish: Bad Ragaz

The gap is now shrinking more steadily as the race pounds along some typically broad, well-surfaced Swiss highway. 1:06 the gap.

If we do end up with a bunch sprint, Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal, already the winner of a Vuelta a España stage this year, is likely one top candidate and so too is Human Powered Health's American sprinter Lily Williams.

Attack in the break

Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-SUEZ) darts away up a rise through the feed zone, 32 kilometres out

Berthet's been brought back very quickly by Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek) at the head of the seven riders remaining in the break.

Often after an attack breaking up the collaboration in the break that fails to work out, there's a lot of hesitation about working together afterwards. But this time round, that's not the case and the eight are still pulling together steadily.

The gap has dropped some more, to 45 seconds. Bunch sprint ahoy.

More than making it to the finish, the gap is falling so fast that the question is whether the eight will make it as far as the last two intermediate sprints of the stage at Sevelen, now just a few kilometres ahead.

Lots of hesitating in the break now. 25 seconds and dropping.

Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek) makes one last effort to pump some life into the break, followed by Le Court-Pienaar

Femke Markus (SDWorx-Protime) provides Adegeest's last-ditch bid with some more support and the gap is back up to 25 seconds again. Megan Arens (Picnic PostNL) has sat up and will be caught soon.

The bunch in hot pursuit...

The second of three sprints of the day looms and there's a lot more hesitating in the seven as they approach. The peloton are fast closing in, though.

Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) launches a lone move

All of the break bar Markus is caught

Sprint

Femke Markus (SDWorx-Protime) wins the first Tissot sprint, but race leader Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) fights for the second and in the raise in pace, Markus is caught.

Results from the first sprint at Sevelen, Km 103.8
1. Femke Markus
2. Marlen Reusser
3. Elisa Longo Borghini

15 kilometres to go - attack

Attack by Lauren Asencio (Ma Petite Entreprise) as the peloton regrouped after the second sprint. She's got about 15 seconds advantage.

Results from the second sprint:
1. Lauren Dickson
2. Marie Le Net
3. Marlen Reusser

Three useful seconds for Dickson, then, who's lying second overall after stage 2.

Meanwhile Asencio is ploughing on and has 18 seconds advantage.

11 kilometres to go

Asencio is really going for it, she has nearly 30 seconds advantage

Some counter-attackers tried to follow Asencio up the road, but that didn't work out. Lidl-Trek, EF and AG Insurance are trying to control things, but it's not straightforward.

Asencio caught

Nine kilometres form the line, Asencio has been caught.

Broad, sweeping roads for now, and various trains are keeping things under control on the front: EF, FDJ United, UAE And Liv AIUla Jayco, the latter working for Letizia Paternoster.

Race leader Elisa Longo Borghini is close to the front, clearly intent on staying out of trouble.

The road is ever so slightly rising all the way to the finish, and there are a few roundabouts and some road furniture en route, but that likely won't stop a bunch sprint.

The finishing straight is reportedly 400 metres long, which sounds ideal for the bunch sprinters.

5 kilometres to go

Human Power, working for Lily Williams are also on the front.

Broad, dry, country roads for now, very straight so relatively easy for the bunch to keep things under control.

Crash: Lauren Dickson, second overall, falls heavily, but gets up quickly.

Around 60 riders or so in the front group

Unclear how the crash happened, around two or three riders down, but it looked like Dickson struck the barriers.

Two kilometres to go

Dickson was inside the five kilometre safety zone, so her GC position should be safe.

Meanwhile Liv Jayco AlUa are leading the sprint into the final kileomtre

Canyon SRAM now take over

Kim Le Court-Pienaar working for Bossuyt

The bunch move into the final straight, Zoe Backstedt going from distance

And she gets the win.

Winner

Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) wins stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse Women

She got a tremendous leadout from teammate Kasia Niewiadoma and went from distance, winning by several bikelengths. Simply spectacular.

Riders coming across the finish in dribs and drabs, looks like there could have been some kind of incident late on, so the bunch was smaller than usual in what was a chaotic finale.

And here's a first shot of the winner

Lily Williams (Human Powered Health) and Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) came home in second and third.

No change to the overall lead, with Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) continuing atop the GC for a second straight day.

Predictions of a bunch sprint were correct, then, but that eight-rider move was a very dangerous one with Le Court and Berthet in it, and the peloton had to work hard to get everything under control.

Niewiadoma gave her the initial starting point to go for it, but after surfing wheels of her rivals, it was Backstedt's decision to surprise her rivals and go for her second win of the season, her first at WorldTour level in a bunch sprint and the ninth of her career.

And don't forget that Bäckstedt is another great option for tomorrow's TT as well.

Here's our full analysis and report on today's stage:

Tour de Suisse Women: Zoe Bäckstedt stuns the field with scorching long-range sprint to win stage 3

Some words from the stage 3 winner Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM):

"My whole team did an amazing job, and truly I couldn't have done it without them, so credits to them. I was a bit nervous when that break went and we didn't have anyone in it, but we controlled it quite nicely and managed to bring them back with just enough time before the finish."
"Then my teammates did an amazing leadout for me."
[Tomorrow's TT stage] is going to be super hard with the heat, it's been really hard every with the heat, also the climbing, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow, it should hopefully be a good day for me, but you never know what can happen."

The race website now reports Marlen Reusser (Movistar) is back on her top five placing on GC after some initial confusion to her placing as she finished a little down on the remainder of the peloton after things split apart late on. However, there is no sign (yet) of whether Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-SUEZ) finished the course, and whether she'll retain her second place overall after that late crash just under five kilometres from the line.

A shot of race leader Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) during the stage. She'll be in yellow again tomorrow.

Meantime Femke De Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) continues to lead in the points and mountains classifications, with teammate Sarah Van Dam heading the BYR competition.

So what's happening tomorrow in the Tour de Suisse Women?
The one time trial of the five-day race is 23.7 kilometres long, starting and finishing in Aarburg. Undulating terrain but no classified climbs, this is the clear chance for the time triallers to gain some time before Sunday's toughest mountain stage, the last of the race.

That wraps it up for Cyclingnews live coverage of the Tour de Suisse Women stage 3, but there will be more coverage tomorrow and through to the end of the race.

And a last-minute add on that it's just come through that Lauren Dickson did complete the stage. She was over 15 minutes down, but as her crash took place inside the five-kilometre safety zone, her second place overall remains as stands. No update yet, though, regarding her possible injuries.