Tour de Suisse Women: Femke de Vries outsprints Lauren Dickson to claim first professional victory on hard-fought stage 1

Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) won stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse Women, celebrating the first pro victory of her career after beating Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-Suez) in a sprint of two.

Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) finished third after attacking from a chase group in the descent to the finish.

De Vries and Dickson were part of a break of 12 riders that went away from a reduced peloton with 42km to go. When Urška Žigart (AG Insurace-Soudal) attacked from that break on the second-category climb to Triangia, De Vries and Dickson were the only ones able to follow. De Vries then put the pressure on in the descent, dropping the other two.

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Dickson returned after the descent, while Žigart never made it back, eventually waiting for a very reduced peloton. At the intermediate sprint 8.8km from the finish, Dickson and De Vries were still 1:05 minutes ahead and kept a good pace on the third-category wall of Bordighi, where Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) attacked from the peloton.

Still 30 seconds behind the front duo at the mountain sprint, Niewiadoma-Phinney was reeled in on the descent, and instead Kerbaol went away. De Vries let Dickson lead out the sprint and then came around her to win the stage, also taking the overall lead.

"It’s my first win in a UCI race. I’m incredibly happy, I still cannot believe it," said De Vries after the finish.

Having been up to 1:45 minutes ahead at one point, the breakaway lost ground to the favourites in the final but held on for the victory.

"I was really scared for the last climb. I was beginning to climb and thought [I had] a little cramp. I never have cramps, but now it started. Then I just committed. I heard the gap was getting smaller, so I thought I just have to go all out," said De Vries.

"I pushed Lauren to the front, then she started to sprint, and I was really patient and really proud of myself how I did that. I have really good memories of this race from two years ago, it was my first WorldTour race with the team, I already hit third place then, and now this. Wearing the leader’s jersey in a WorldTour race will be super special."

How it unfolded

Starting and finishing in Sondrio, the 109.3km stage wound its way up and down the Valtellina valley. After 58km of flat roads, the climbing started with the category-three ascent to Buglio in Monte, followed by the climb to Triangia and a rolling final, culminating in the 1.2km, 10% climb of Bordighi.

After several unsuccessful attacks, it was Daniela Hezinová (Picnic PostNL) who got away with 75km to go and built a 45-second advantage, but she was caught again before the Buglio in Monte climb even began.

Although there were no attacks, the climb reduced the peloton to about 30 riders. After the descent, German champion Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) attacked, and her move led to a front group of 12 that also included Dickson, De Vries, Žigart, Liane Lippert (Movistar), Zoe Backstedt (Canyon-SRAM), Sara Casasola (Fenix-Premier Tech), Thalita de Jong (Human Powered Health), Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime), Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ), Clémence Latimier (Ma Petite Entreprise), and Jasmin Liechti (Swiss national team).

With the peloton not much larger than the front group, only about 20 riders, and many teams represented up front, their gap increased quickly. Backstedt was dropped on an unclassified climb, and with 31km to go, the remaining 11 frontrunners started the Triangia climb 1:25 minutes ahead.

Žigart split the break and briefly went solo before Dickson and De Vries were able to bridge to her, and the three riders worked together well on the climb to extend their advantage to 1:45 minutes at the mountain sprint while Movistar were taking up the chase in the peloton.

In the descent, De Vries split the trio, and unlike Dickson, Žigart never made it back to the front. Further back, Movistar were calling Lippert back to the peloton to help in the chase, but the situation did not change much. At the 10km mark, the peloton was still 1:15 minutes behind, with Žigart about to be reeled in.

De Vries and Dickson started the steep Bordighi climb with a minute in hand and rode a hard, steady pace to the top. Niewiadoma-Phinney attacked from the peloton and was followed by Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) and Sarah Van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike) while Marlen Reusser (Movistar), Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), and Steffi Häberlin (SD Worx-Protime) could not follow the acceleration.

Niewiadoma-Phinney accelerated again to drop Longo Borghini and finally Van Dam, cresting the climb 30 seconds down on the front duo. Reusser came from behind with Le Court-Pienaar and Häberlin on her wheel, picking up Longo Borghini, Van Dam, and eventually Niewiadoma-Phinney on the descent towards Sondrio.

Kerbaol also made it back to the group and immediately went to the front to launch another of her trademark descent attacks, getting away and gaining nine seconds on the other favourites at the finish.

But it was De Vries and Dickson who sprinted for the stage, with De Vries taking the victory. She now leads the GC by four seconds over Dickson, with Kerbaol at 35 seconds and the next six riders at 48 seconds.

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