Tour de Romandie: Vollering denies Niewiadoma in sprint to win stage 2

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Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) won stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie Féminin, sprinting away from Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) on the last metres of the climb to Torgon to take the victory and the leader's jersey.

After crossing the Col des Mosses into the Rhône valley, the race came down to the 12-kilometre climb to Torgon where Canyon-SRAM set a ferocious pace, first with Antonia Niedermaier, then with Ricarda Bauernfeind. Bauernfeind's work reduced the group to only a few riders and brought back the escapees Anna Shackley (Team SD Worx) and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) who had attacked with 20 km to go.

Juliette Labous (Team DSM-Firmenich) attacked 4 km from the finish, taking Vollering, Niewiadoma, and Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx) with her. 

Vollering took the lead, and neither Reusser nor Labous could follow her pace, leaving only Niewiadoma with the Dutchwoman.

In the last few kilometres, Niewiadoma worked hard to keep a resurgent Reusser from coming back, and Vollering had no trouble sprinting away from Niewiadoma on the final metres to win.

“It was perfect team tactics because we could really gamble. I hoped that Marlen could come back because it would be nice if she could win here, but she just didn’t make it, and then I could win the sprint from Kasia,” Vollering said.

In the general classification, Vollering now has a six-second lead on Niewiadoma. Reusser is third overall at 12 seconds, but Team SD Worx may still decide to support their Swiss champion.

“We still have one day to go. Of course, the goal is to win it as a team, so if I can keep it, it’s good, but it would also be nice if Marlen can win tomorrow. Let’s see how it goes, the most important thing is that the jersey stays in the team,” Vollering explained.

How it unfolded

With two first-category climbs on 110.8 km, stage 2 was the queen stage of the three-day race, and the peloton did not let any break get away before the Col des Mosses. 

World-class mountain bike rider Jolanda Neff (Switzerland) took maximum points on the climb, and with her points from stage 1, she took the lead in the QOM classification and will wear the light-blue jersey on the final stage.

Reusser and Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) attacked into the descent, but their move was closed down by Team DSM-Firmenich.

In the Rhône valley, Persico and Shackley went away, and Amber Kraak (Team Jumbo-Visma) bridged to them to form a three-rider breakaway. 

They had a 55-second advantage going into the climb to Torgon, but Kraak quickly lost contact with the other two.

When Persico and Shackley were caught 5.9 km from the finish, Bauernfeind’s pace had reduced the group of favourites to only eight riders: Labous, Niewiadoma, Vollering, Reusser, Niamh Fisher-Black (Team SD Worx), Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ), Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek), and Bauernfeind herself.

Labous made her move into a short descent with 4 km to go but couldn’t follow Vollering’s pace when the road kicked up again, leaving only Vollering and Niewiadoma in the lead. 

Vollering held back on the last kilometres, hoping for her teammate Reusser to return, but Niewiadoma made sure that the Swiss champion would stay distanced. 

However, the 28-year-old Pole had nothing left to reply to Vollering’s sprint, and the Women’s WorldTour leader easily won the stage.

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