Tour de Suisse 2023 – Stage 3 [FULL STAGE] (ladies)

June 19, 2023

Tour de Suisse 2023 WE – Stage 3 – St. Gallen – Ebnat-Kappel : 120,8 km

There was a time when the Tour de Suisse was considered the third most prestigious stage race in the world. With its first edition debuting back in 1933, the week-long race has built up a rich history and has seen many of the sport’s most legendary names. Nowadays the race serves as a final tune-up for the Tour de France and typically attracts the other half of the professional peloton that aren’t racing in the Critérium du Dauphiné, another Tour de France warm-up race that often runs in parallel to this one. These two races can also be key for Tour team selections, as riders have often been called up to race La Grande Boucle based on their performances. The Tour de Suisse often starts with a short prologue, followed by a series of stages in the high-mountains. The race is renowned for sending riders up some of the highest altitude climbs in the sport of cycling, like the infamous Umbrail Pass – the highest paved road in Switzerland and a climb that ascends to a dizzying height of 2,501m. The race also often visits the gruelling Furka Pass and legendary St. Gotthard Pass – a road that climbs for more than 50km from some directions and features a staggering 38 switchbacks before its 2,106m-high summit. These three climbs have defined many editions over the race’s 90-year history, with their summits often crowning the overall winner.

Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ) won stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse Women in a reduced sprint.

The Italian beat Arlenis Sierra (Movistar Team) and Tereza Neumanová (Liv Racing TeqFind) to the line, coming from behind at speed.

Urška Žigart (Team Jayco-AlUla) had attacked from a front group of six on the final climb of the day and looked as if she could hold off the peloton, but she was cruelly passed by the sprinters less than 100 metres from the finish.

With one stage to go, Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx) continues to lead the overall classification, nine seconds ahead of her teammate Demi Vollering and 18 seconds ahead of Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo).

“I am really happy because this is my first important victory. My team did some amazing work today, they helped me in every moment of the race, so I have to say thank you to them,” Gasparrini said after her first Women’s WorldTour victory.

“Already on the first climb, I was feeling good, and on the last climb, when I was in the first group, I realised that maybe I can have win because this type of arrival is good for me. But I can’t believe that I won. I also want to send a special thought to my grandfather who passed away two weeks ago, this is for him,” she added.

HOW IT UNFOLDED
It took a long time before anybody could break away from the peloton during the 120.8 km stage from St. Gallen to Ebnat-Kappel to the west of Zurich.

Eventually, Becky Storrie (Team DSM) went on a solo and built a gap of up to 42 seconds, but she was caught before the start of the first-category climb of the Sitzberg. Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) took maximum points at the top to defend her lead in the mountain classification, and the peloton split into several groups in the descent before coming back together.

Paula Patiño (Movistar Team) attacked with 45 km to go and was soon joined by Blanka Vas (Team SD Worx), Pauliena Rooijakkers (Canyon-SRAM), and Eva van Agt (Team Jumbo-Visma). 35 km from the finish, Julie van de Velde (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Žigart bridged to the attack.

This group of six had an advantage of up to 1:20 minute at one point but that was reduced to 40 seconds at the foot of the 6.5-kilometre final climb to Ricken with 15 km to go.

Žigart attacked from the group just over two kilometres from the top, and none of the other riders reacted, enabling the Slovenian rider to quickly get a sizable gap.

At the top of the climb, 10.6 km from the finish, Žigart was 17 seconds ahead of her former companions, with the peloton at 45 seconds.

On the descent, Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) bridged to the chase group after her teammate Rooijakkers had lost contact on the climb. Niewiadoma went right by the chasers to attack further but couldn’t get away, and the remains of the chase group was reeled in by the peloton with seven kilometres to go.

Žigart was still 21 seconds ahead at the five-kilometre mark, but this had gone down to only 10 seconds at the flamme rouge. Even so, it looked as if she might make it, but the slight uphill on the finishing straight cruelly spelled the end of her breakaway less than 100 metres to go.

Vollering led out Vas for the sprint, but Sierra quickly distanced the stage 1 winner. Then Gasparrini came from behind with Neumanová on her wheel, passing Sierra to take the victory.

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