Chabbey wins mountain stage as Žigart takes lead at Tour de Romandie Féminin
A strange Tour de Romandie Féminin resumed on Saturday with a 123.2-kilometre stage finishing up the Cat.1 La Tzoumaz (12.8km at 8.1%). At the end of an attritional final climb, Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) launched off the wheel of Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) a hundred metres from the line to take her first WorldTour stage win on home soil.
Stage 1 winner Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) finished sixth after losing touch with the lead group 8 km from the summit, which was down to just Chabbey and Žigart by 4km to go, Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) dangling a few seconds off the leading pair. As the Slovenian climber did the lion's share of pulling, she steadily worked away at her 17-second overall deficit after finishing second on day one, and from about halfway up the Tzoumaz, Žigart was virtual leader.
At just 15 seconds down on Žigart, Chabbey was also not far off the overall lead, but she settled for stage victory as the Slovenian moved into the yellow jersey. Chabbey now lies just eight seconds back in second overall, Kastelijn third at 13 seconds, then overnight leader Blasi fourth just inside a minute. This leaves the Tour de Romandie Féminin finely poised going into what is sure to be a dynamic final stage.
Stage 2 top 5
- Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) 3:29:52
- Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) +0:03
- Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) +0:06
- Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal) +1:02
- Steffi Häberlin (SD Worx-Protime) +1:10
GC after stage 2
- Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) 3:41:23
- Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) +0:08
- Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) +0:13
- Paula Blasi (UAD Team ADQ) +0:58
- Steffi Häberlin (SD Worx-Protime) +1:26
