After a non-stop, highly aggressive third and final stage of the Tour de Romandie, Movistar’s Liane Lippert once again claimed the top step. The German national champion out-sprinted Fem van Empel (Jumbo-Visma) and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) to win the stage.
SD Worx rode well all day to keep Demi Vollering at the top of the general classification standings, and try as she might, Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) couldn’t find the six seconds needed to overtake the Dutch road champion. Vollering’s teammate Marlen Reusser also held on to her third overall, after finishing fourth on the stage.
- At one point in the race, with about 30 km to go, a very powerful group of riders powered their way off the front over the third QOM of the day, as Lippert, Niewiadoma, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) and Vollering looked to be making a bid for the stage. They were caught 5 km later, but what a race that would have been to the line.
- Canyon-SRAM, SD Worx, DSM-Firmenich, Jumbo-Visma and Movistar were the teams with the most power in the peloton coming into the final 5 km. Once again Canyon-SRAM was the most aggressive team of the day, with SD Worx mostly playing defense with Reusser and Vollering taking turns to keep things together as well. Uttrup was also super aggressive but lacked numbers in the group compared to the German team.
- Jumbo-Visma’s hard work almost paid off but Van Empel started her sprint just a touch too early. The young Dutchwoman and recent Tour de l’Avenir stage winner has yet to win a WWT race, but that top-tier victory is coming.
Stage 3 results
GC results
Quote of the day
They say in order to be successful you need to have confidence in yourself. Well, with the year she’s had and the future ahead, it’s no wonder Lippert felt fully capable of winning the stage on Sunday.
I did already on the climb a lot of action, a lot of attacking, and I felt really strong. I had a great team that really covered all the moves, so I could really relax and only focus on the fast sprinters. And yes, I have a good eye for the sprints and confidence in myself, and also I really feel the team had the confidence in me.
Lippert said of the victory
A nice moment between rivals
Up next: Tour of Chongming Island, October 12-14, China
Tour of Chongming Island, a three-day event that has been on the women’s calendar since 2007, finally returns in 2023 after three years of cancellation. It was one of the races hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, but both the stage race and the one-day event Tour of Guangxi are back.
The last person to win the typically pan-flat Tour of Chongming Island was Lorena Wiebes who, naturally, won all three stages to take the overall. Other familiar names who have walked away from China victorious include Jolien D’Hoore, Chloe Hosking, Kirsten Wild, and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg.
Expect more information on Escape Collective once we get closer to the event.
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