British rider Zoe Bäckstedt cruised to a dominant win in the bunch sprint at the end of the third stage of the Tour de Suisse Women.
The Welshwoman was positioned expertly by her Canyon-SRAM team in the closing kilometre. Bäckstedt was the first to hit out and quickly gained several bike lengths.
She crossed the line pedalling in the saddle to claim her ninth pro win.
Filling the other podium positions were Lily Williams (Human Powered Health) in second and Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) in third.
The provisional result showed fellow Brit Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-Suez) having fallen out of second place on the general classification following a crash with 3.5km to go. However, there was a five kilometre rule in place – which will likely see her given the same time as the rest of group she was with – once the jury has made adjustments.
Speaking after the finish Bäckstedt was quick to give credit to her team for the win. She said: “My whole team did an amazing job today and truly I couldn’t have done it without them.
“I was a bit nervous when the break went and we didn’t have anyone in it. But it was controlled quite nicely and we managed to bring it back with just enough time before the finish.”
Tomorrow will see the riders take on a 24km time trial and Bäckstedt, who has won five TTs in her short career so far, will once again be among the favourites for victory.
She said: “Tomorrow will be super brutal with the heat, every day has been super hard with the heat, and the climbing, but tomorrow it should be a good day for me again.”
The provisional result showed fellow Brit Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-Suez) having fallen out of second place on the general classification following a crash with 3.5km to go. However, there was a five kilometre rule in place – which will likely see her given the same time as the rest of group she was with – once the jury has made adjustments.
Speaking after the finish Bäckstedt was quick to give credit to her team for the win. She said: “My whole team did an amazing job today and truly I couldn’t have done it without them.
“I was a bit nervous when the break went and we didn’t have anyone in it. But it was controlled quite nicely and we managed to bring it back with just enough time before the finish.”
Tomorrow will see the riders take on a 24km time trial and Bäckstedt, who has won five TTs in her short career so far, will once again be among the favourites for victory.
She said: “Tomorrow will be super brutal with the heat, every day has been super hard with the heat, and the climbing, but tomorrow it should be a good day for me again.”
The day had been raced at a high speed of 43kph on average.
Megan Arens (Picnic-Post NL) instigated thebreakaway as the flag dropped and she was then joined by a gaggle of seven other riders. They were: Kim le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurnce-Soudal), Alice Towers (EF Education-Oatly), Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-Suez), Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek), Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco), Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) and Kathrina Sadnik (Visma-Lease a Bike).
The gap to the break eventually swelled to near two minutes but with the sprinters teams keen to contest the finish they were never given more time than that.
As the peloton drew closer there were a series of attacks from the break but most of the group was brough back before the bonus seconds sprint at 17.5km to go, aside from Markus who crossed the line first.
The GC riders battled for the other bonus seconds with Marlen Reusser (Movistar) taking two and overall leader Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE-ADQ) taking one.
The next sprint, just one kilometre down the road, was won by Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-Suez) who picked up three seconds, ahead of team-mate Marie Le Net with Reusser picking up an additional second for third.
The predictable lull following the second sprint was broken by a counterattack by Laura Asencio (Ma Petite Entreprise) and she initially gained 18 seconds on the peloton.
Asencio seemed to have inspired the other team as a group of six tried to bridge the gap as the race approached 10km to go but they were shut down.
The peloton could see Asencio now and she was caught not long after the 10km mark.
As the race entered the final 5km Human Powered Health and Canyon-SRAM, working for Zoe Bäckstedt came to the fore to take control of proceedings, though they were challenged by several other teams including Lidl-Trek.
At 4km to Lauren Dickson, who sat second in the general classification, came down in a crash along with several other riders.
Under the flamme rouge Canyon-SRAM once again came to the front with Bäckstedt in third wheel.
The Welshwoman hit out early and put several bike lengths into her competition before cruising across the line.