Tour de Suisse Women: Elise Chabbey wins stage 1

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Swiss champion Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) won stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse Women. When she attacked from an elite front group with 15.5 kilometres to go, only Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) followed her move, and the two cooperated well to extend their advantage to over 30 seconds. 

Chabbey made Deignan open up the sprint and could accelerate in the former world champion's slipstream, coming around on the last 50 metres to take the victory.

In the chase group, Marlen Reusser (Alé BTC Ljubljana) attacked Mikayla Harvey (Canyon-SRAM) and Jolanda Neff (Swiss National Team) just before the three-kilometre mark and soloed to third place.

"I still cannot believe it! She (Deignan) is one of the best sprinters in the world, it is crazy. I just trusted what the DS in the car told me and really followed that, and it worked. I started my sprint early, pretending to go and then going in her wheel, and then I went again. When I saw I was coming past her, I thought, 'oh my God, I will do it!' It is the biggest win of my career so far, I am really happy," said Chabbey after the sprint.

"We want to defend the yellow jersey tomorrow. It will be a hard race, tomorrow is really technical, and it could be wet as well. I think it will be really messy, and it is important to stay in the front, but I am ready for it," Chabbey concluded.

How it unfolded

The stage was held in and around Frauenfeld, consisting of a 38.1-kilometre circuit that was raced three times. The main difficulty was the Kalchrain climb, 1.8 kilometres at 7.8%, cresting 20.3 km from the finish line.

There was no real breakaway in the first half of the race, and on the second lap, six riders got away on the Kalchrain climb. Erica Magnaldi (Ceratizit-WNT) had to let go of the group after a few kilometres, then Deignan, Chabbey, Harvey, Reusser, and Neff could gradually extend their advantage to the chase group with Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo), Tatiana Guderzo (Alé BTC Ljubljana), Olga Zabelinskaya (Cogeas Mettler Look), Letizia Borghesi (Aromitalia Basso Bikes Vaiano), Sina Frei (Swiss National Team), and Magnaldi.

Since most big teams were represented in front, there was no real impetus to chase, and entering the final lap, the chase group was 1:27 minutes behind the front, with the peloton at 2:34 minutes.

The front group continued to work together on the Kalchrain climb until Deignan attacked just before the top, but Harvey brought the rest of the group back. An acceleration by Reusser in the rolling kilometres that followed did not split the group, but when Chabbey attacked 15.5 km from the line, only Deignan followed.

With Harvey protecting her teammate's chances, it was up to Neff and Reusser to chase, but at the ten-kilometre mark, the gap had reached 30 seconds as Chabbey and Deignan traded turns, both seemed happy to wait for the sprint.

Within six kilometres to go, Harvey attacked from the chase group to go for third place, starting a flurry of attacks by all three riders. None of them were successful. until Reusser finally got away just before the three-kilometre mark.

In the sprint, Chabbey outplayed the explosive Deignan, forcing her into the front and then coming around from behind to win the stage and take the yellow jersey. Chabbey also leads the points classification while Deignan leads the mountain classification, and Harvey is the best U25 rider.

The Tour de Suisse Women finishes with stage 2, 96.8 flat kilometres around Frauenfeld.