Movistar rider, Marlen Reusser won the final stage of the Tour de Suisse Women with a strong, audacious attack on the descent of the final climb to take her home race victory alone, on the shores of Lake Lucerne.
After taking the overall lead by winning the four day race's opening stage, the Swiss woman set a relentless pace on the day’s final climb, leading a group of only four women over the top and into the final 15km.
After a well-timed attack on the descent from Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto), Reusser allowed rival Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ) to close the gap before launching the decisive move on a small rise. She then managed to hold her advantage, finishing 28 seconds ahead of Niewiadoma, with Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ) third on the day.
Vollering finished second on general classification, while Niewiadoma was third overall.
It was a consummate performance from the Swiss rider, who was perfectly positioned throughout the day, despite only having one of her Movistar team mates in support in the closing kilometres.
As the road kicked up for the day’s final climb, she moved to the front of the bunch, setting an infernal pace which not only shredded the peloton on the 9% slopes, but prevented any of her rivals attacking.
Vollering appeared to out of sorts on the final comb, occasionally slipping back in the group before finding herself on the decent, though the Dutch woman was unable to respond effectively when her former team mate made her race winning move.
Reusser’s victory sets up an intriguing summer, with the Giro d’Italia Women and then the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift all coming in the next seven weeks.
“I think we have a rivalry the whole year and I’m making so many steps at this moment, and I think I’m really developing a lot and I think it will keep being interesting,” she said of her battle with Vollering.
“It’s great, I’m really, really happy. I’m back in life and super happy and today I don’t think about last year,” Reususer said, referring to her injury and illness blighted 2024 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The sixth edition of the Tour de Suisse Women Took place across four stages, heading basically west to east, across the centre of the country. The race’s podium was largely decided on Thursday’s opening stage, starting and finishing in Gstaad, when Marlen Reusser (Movistar) attacked over the top of the day’s defining climb.
Only defending champion Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ) managed to go with the Swiss rider, the pair finishing 1:42 ahead of Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto).
The Polish rider then clawed back 20 seconds of her deficit with her own audacious attack on stage two, while Vollering’s team mate, Amber Kraak took a solo stage win.
Former world champion Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) won Saturday’s third stage bunch kick after some dynamic racing, setting the scene for Sunday’s final day showdown. The leading duo of Reusser and Vollering started the final stage separated only by day one’s bonus seconds, four seconds between them, and Niewiadoma still a threat at 1.21.
Stage four’s undulating, 129.4km course took place on the northern shores of Lake Lucerne, starting and finishing in the town of Küssnacht, following the same route as the opening stage of the men’s race, held later in the day. With the whole race staged close to Vollering’s adopted home, and with the time gaps so close, the pressure was on the dominant Dutch woman to perform.
This fourth day was second only to stage two in the amount of climbing, with 1,939m of ascent over four classified climbs. The first of those, the Adligenswilerstrasse, came only 6.5km after the peloton rolled out under leaden skies and on wet roads for on an opening loop almost to the suburbs of Lucerne itself.
At 3.8km with an average gradient of 9.1%, Michaelskreuzstrasse presented the next obstacle and, after a flurry of attacks, Julia Borgström (AG Insurance-Soudal), Loes Adegeest (FDJ-SUEZ) and Afghan champion Fariba Hashimi (Ceratizit) took a lead of 35 seconds over the top of its brutal slopes.
However, with 90km remaining, just after the race passed the finish line to begin a long, eastern loop, Hashimi was last woman standing, and was soon swallowed up by a raging peloton.
The Afghan woman, though, was keen to be up the road, and soon infiltrated an 11 woman leading group who set about building an advantage on the flatter roads adjacent to the lake’s shores. However, with bonus seconds available at both the Tissot Kilometre and on the finish line so critical to the the overall result, they were soon caught, though the race refused to settle.
With multiple attacks continuing, at 63km to go and the sun now shining on dry roads, New Zealander, Henrietta Christie (EF Education-Oatley) got away, and despite repeated counter attacks, managed to build a lead which briefly approached one minute.
Behind her, though, both Vollering and and Reusser competed for the Tissot Kilometre bonus seconds, the former finishing second and cutting her rival’s overall advantage to only three seconds. But by the time they reached the second sprint, 1,000m later, Christie had been joined by Steffi Häberlin (SD Worx-Protime) and Julia Borgström (AG Insurance-Soudal), the trio hoovering up the bonuses.
When the leaders reached Küssnacht again, with with just over 39km to go, their lead had once again reached one minute, but though none of them was any threat to the general classification, FDJ-SUEZ worked in the bunch to ensure that did not increase.
The race was now tackling the opening loop, and its climbs, for a second time and when Häberlin took maximum mountains points at the top of the Adligenswilerstrasse, the break’s lead was only 15 seconds.
By now Reusser had only sprinter and Serbian champion Jelena Erić in support, however, it was LidlTrek who finally caught the leaders close to the bottom of the Michaelskreuzstrasse, the race’s final climb, with 18km to go.
Here, the moment the road tipped upwards, Reusser headed to the front of the bunch, setting the pace, with both Vollering and Niewiadoma close behind, instantly whittling the leading group to just a handful of riders.
The Swiss woman’s relentless pace on the early part of the climb ensured only four women crested the the top, Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) joining Reusser, Vollering and Niewiadoma onto the descent.
Even then, the race was not over, Reusser attacking before Niewadoma cleverly used a traffic island to attack, drawing out Vollering in pursuit. Reusser then sat on her wheel before making her decisive move with 9km of the race to go.
RESULTS: TOUR DE SUISSE WOMEN, STAGE 4, KÜSSNACHT > KÜSSNACHT (129.4KM)
1. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Movistar, in Anne Other (Nation) Team, in 3:19:36
2. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto, at 28 sec
3. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-SUEZ, at st
4. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly, at 41 sec
5. Yara Kastelijn (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, at 1:11
6. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) Lidl-Trek
7. Urška Žigart (Slo) AG Insurance-Soudal, all at st
8. Sarah Gigante (Aus) AG Insurance-Soudal, at 1:15
9. Isabella Holmgren (Can) Lidl-Trek, at 1:53
10. Marion Bunel (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, at 1:54
FINAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Movistar, in Anne Other (Nation) Team, in 13:03:00
2. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-SUEZ, at 36 sec
3. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto, at 1:56
4. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) Lidl-Trek, at 3:25
5. Urška Žigart (Slo) AG Insurance-Soudal, at 3:25
6. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly, at 3:27
7. Yara Kastelijn (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, at 3:57
8. Mavi García (Esp) Liv-Alula-Jayco, at 4:29
9. Marion Bunel (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, at 4:40
10. Eleonora Ciabocco (Ita) Picnic-PostNL, at 4:59
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