Elisa Balsamo winning stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie Féminin(Image credit: Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) won stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie Féminin from Le Grande Béroche to Lausanne. In an uphill sprint, the Italian sprinter came around world champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) on the last 100 metres to win the stage while Liane Lippert (Movistar Team) beat Noemi Rüegg (Switzerland) to third place.
A strong breakaway of 17 riders had formed with 40 km to go, but they were caught on the descent from the last classified climb, the Mont-Pèlerin. Christine Majerus (SD Worx-Protime) and Lizzie Holden (UAE Team ADQ) attacked with 15km to go and held an advantage of up to 40 seconds but were reeled in on the uphill last three kilometres, setting up the sprint.
“I just want to say a big thank you to my whole team, today they did an amazing job, and it’s just awesome for me to win again, so I’m really, really happy,” said Balsamo on her comeback after an injury-marred summer.
“We knew it was a really hard finish. We honestly didn’t know how it could go, it really depended on how they would ride it. But when I saw Kopecky attacking in the last 400 metres, I just closed my eyes and went full-gas to the finish line,” she said.
Despite wearing the yellow leader’s jersey, Balsamo will work to support her teammates on stage 2, the queen stage of the race with a mountaintop finish in Vercorin.
“I think it’s going to be impossible for me [to defend] on this long climb, but for sure we have some really good climbers here, so my goal is to help them tomorrow,” she finished.
How it unfolded
The 133.8km stage took the peloton from the shores of Lake Neuchâtel to Lake Geneva on a rolling course that included three third-category climbs and several other unclassified ascents.
No breakaway could get away for a long time. The first rider to get a gap was Caroline Andersson (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) halfway through the stage, but she was quickly brought back.
After the Saint-Cierges climb, an attack by Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility) led to the formation of the 17-rider front group that also included Christine Majerus, Femke Markus (both SD Worx-Protime), Balsamo, Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM), Francesca Barale (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Holdlen, Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez), Mavi García, Ingvild Gåskjenn (both Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Yara Kastelijn, Flora Perkins (both Fenix-Deceuninck), Paula Patiño (both Movistar Team), Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility), Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal), and Julie Bego (Cofidis).
They started the last classified climb of Mont-Pèlerin with a 35-second gap on the peloton. Bego, García, and Gåskjenn set a high pace that caused Le Net, Holden, Markus, Patino, and Majerus to be dropped.
Kastelijn led the group over the top to secure the lead in the mountain classification, but the peloton was still only 35 seconds down, and in the descent to Lake Geneva, everything came back together.
Majerus and Holden sprinted for the points at the intermediate sprint in Saint-Saphorin and decided to keep going, quickly building a 40-second gap with only seven kilometres to go. But Lidl-Trek, Canyon-SRAM, and Movistar Team chased hard, reducing the gap to only ten seconds at the bottom of the 3km climb to the finish line.
Majerus dropped Holden but saw herself reeled in 2.5km from the line, and Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) led the peloton up the climb until Silke Smulders (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) tried to anticipate a sprint by attacking just before the flamme rouge. Vollering was immediately on her wheel, and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) closed the gap to Vollering.
The Women’s WorldTour leader then kept the pace high on the last kilometre to lead out Kopecky who launched her sprint very early. Only Balsamo could follow the acceleration, and a large gap opened up behind the two top sprinters. Balsamo then sprinted out of Kopecky’s slipstream, coming past in the last 100 metres. Kopecky looked behind to check if any more riders were close, then sat down, resigning herself to second place.
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.
