Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) won stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse Women, beating Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) by a few centimetres in a sprint that went down to a photo finish.
Balsamo launched her sprint 250 metres from the finish and raised her left arm just before the finish line, but Bredewold came from behind on the final metres to make it a very close call.
The Italian held on to win, though, coming away with her fifth win of the year. Swiss champion Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) rounded out the podium in third.
“I am really happy. Today was a big goal for us. I was suffering so much the last two days, to win today was really good,” said Balsamo after her victory was confirmed by a photo finish
“It was really tight, but my teammates worked so hard today that I really wanted to win, and I did a super long sprint. Maybe too long, but in the end it was good enough to win."
Stage winner Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) sprint to the finish line in Kussnacht (Image credit: Getty Images)
Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) had attacked right after the start of the stage and stayed ahead of the peloton for almost 90km, her advantage maxing out at 1:45 minutes.
The Olympic champion was caught with 34km to go when riders jumped from the peloton on the false flat after the Aegeristrasse climb. These new attacks were quickly reeled in, though, and although there were more attacks on the run-in to Küssnacht, the stage came down to a sprint from a group of 34 riders.
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) gained one second on Marlen Reusser (Movistar) at the day’s bonus sprints and goes into the final stage with a three-second deficit on the Swiss rider in the yellow jersey.
How it unfolded
Covering 123.1km from the Campus Sursee in Oberkirch to Küssnacht, the stage was mostly flat (the Swiss kind of flat) as it went past six different lakes. There were still two classified climbs, though, the Bööler Passhöchi and the Aegeristrasse.
Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) attacked in long solo breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
Faulkner’s gap to the peloton increased steadily until she was 1:45 minutes ahead with 47km to go, then the peloton took up the chase, preparing for the two bonus sprints on the Tissot Kilometre with 39 and 38km to go. Faulkner took three bonus seconds in both, but behind her, Vollering picked up three bonus seconds while Reusser got two.
Faulkner was only 20 seconds ahead now but held a small gap to the QOM point on the Aegeristrasse. Soon afterwards, Daniek Hengeveld (Ceratizit) attacked and bridged to the lone leader, quickly followed by Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime) and Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek).
When this move was caught, Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) launched the next attack that did not get away and was countered by Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) with Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) on her wheel, adding a bit of GC action to the stage.
Femke De Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) in short-lived break (Image credit: Getty Images)
De Vries, Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime), Amber Kraak (FDJ-Suez), Ella Wyllie (Liv AlUla Jayco), and white jersey Eleonora Ciabocco (Picnic PostNL) jumped across the gap, and eventually the move was reeled in with 31km to go.
Wyllie attacked again 11km from the finish, together with Hengeveld and Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), but they never had a big gap, and after more riders bridged from the peloton, their move was brought back with 8km to go.
Nienke Vinke (Picnic PostNL) made her move 7km from the line and was followed by Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), Kraak, and De Vries, but they were reeled before the 5km mark. Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco) crashed with 3.7km to go, but as she managed to chase back to the peloton, the Spaniard did not lose any time in GC.
Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) joined a move initiated by Nienke Vinke (Picnic PostNL) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Reusser was brought onto the penultimate kilometre by her teammates Floortje Mackaij and Mareille Meijering, then Kerbaol took over with Rüegg on her wheel before Emma Norsgaard (Lidl-Trek) came to the front at the flamme rouge with Balsamo.
Vas moved up through the technical last kilometre and was first at the 400-metre mark with Balsamo and Bredewold on her wheel, opening up a gap. Balsamo then launched her long sprint, and although Bredewold came alongside on the last 75 metres, it was Balsamo who was first to the line.
Race leader Marlen Reusser (Movistar) finished sixth on the stage and holds a three-second lead on GC with one stage to go (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.
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