Marlen Reusser (Movistar) won the Tour de Suisse Women, taking her second consecutive overall victory and the third of her career by soloing to victory on stage 5.
A day after her ITT victory, Reusser also won the brutal mountain around Villars-sur-Ollon, dropping Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) in the final kilometre to win alone.
Seven seconds behind, Kerbaol outsprinted Niewiadoma-Phinney for second place on the stage, and they also finish on the GC podium in that order.
Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney had been part of a front group of five that formed halfway through the stage when Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked and was followed by Megan Arens (Picnic PostNL) and the two GC contenders. Kerbaol bridged to them after a brief chase, and Arens was left behind on the descent from the Col de la Croix.
On the finishing climb, Niewiadoma-Phinney attacked with 8.8km to go, and only Reusser could stay on her wheel. Kerbaol was over 30 seconds behind at one point but fought her way back, coming back on the final kilometre and immediately attacking for the stage victory. When Niewiadoma-Phinney closed the gap, Reusser attacked from behind and went clear to win the stage.
"I'm super happy with how everything went. It's not that I came into this race with the biggest confidence, so I’m super happy that it worked out," Reusser said at the finish.
"Today, I really could profit from the situation we had in the GC. I could look at the others. Kasia did a lot of work on this [finishing] climb, and that helped me a lot. So, thank you, Kasia."
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
More to follow...
Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our men's and women's Tour de Suisse coverage. Don't miss any of the breaking news, race analysis, and expert insight as the riders make their final preparations for Le Tour. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Join today.
Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney congratulated eachother and Kim Le Court at the finish (Image credit: Getty Images)
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
