GC overall podium (Left to Right): Katarzyna Niewiadoma of Canyon-SRAM on second place, race winner Demi Vollering of Team SD Worx in Yellow Leader Jersey and Marlen Reusser of Team SD Worx on third place (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Originally created in 2022 as part of the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the Tour de Romandie Féminin, the women's stage race returns to the Swiss mountains this year.
The women's three-day event will mark the last race of the Women's WorldTour in Europe before the peloton head to China for the return of the Tour of Chongming Island and Tour of Guangxi.
For the second edition of Tour de Romandie Féminin, 14 teams from the UCI Women’s WorldTour event will be on the start, the only absence being Uno-X Pro Cycling. Two invited Continental teams will be AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep, which is expected to bring defending champion Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, and Ceratizit - WNT Pro Cycling Team, which features 2022 stage 3 winner Marta Lach. A Swiss Cycling national team will also be part of the field of 17 teams.
Last year, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, then racing with SD Worx, claimed the overall victory ahead of Annemiek van Vleuten and Elisa Longo Borghini. The South African's win was built on an outstanding victory on mountainous stage 2 to secure her first-ever Women's WorldTour victory.
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Tour de Romandie Féminin route
Tour de Romandie Féminin 2023 Maps and Profiles stage 2 (Image credit: Tour de Romandie Féminin 2023)
It will begin on Friday, September 15, with circuits around Yverdon-Les-Bains. Stage 2 is set as a mountain road stage from Romont to the summit-finish at Torgon. The final day will feature a route from Vernier to Nyon.
Stage 1: Yverdon-les-Bains to Yverdon-les-Bains, 144.1km
Stage 2: Romont to Torgon, 110.8km
Stage 3: Vernier to Nyon, 131.9km
Tour de Romandie Féminin Contenders
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio overall winner of the Tour de Romandie Feminin (Image credit: Getty Images)
The defending champion, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio returns with her new team AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep. She joined the Belgian outfit as the outright leader this year with overall podium success at Setmana Valenciana, Vuelta a Burgos, CIC Tour, and sixth overall at the Tour de France Femmes.
Her former team, SD Worx, will line up with overwhelming favourite Demi Vollering, winner of the Tour de France Femmes. The team arrive with Marlen Reusser, Niamh Fisher-Black and Anna Shackley.
Following the retirement of Annemiek van Vleuten, Liane Lippert will take the lead at Movistar during the three-day race. The German Champion took her biggest win of her career at the Tour de France Femmes in July.
The quality field also includes Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), who has not raced since abandoning the Tour de France Femmes due to a medical reason. Also on the start line are Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ), Mavi Garcia (Liv Racing TeqFind), Tour stage winner Yara Kasteilijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), and Silvia Persico (UAE Team Emirates).
