The Tour de Suisse starts tomorrow, and even though Demi Vollering, the recent winner of the Giro d'Italia and 2024 Tour de Suisse champ, will not be lining up this year, the route and start list still promise some fantastic battles. The time trial in particular will be a crucial stage where riders familiar with the discipline, or those hoping to show improvement before the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in August, will be able to gauge their form.
This year, the race will run concurrently with the men's edition, which also means that it expands from the usual four stages to five. The race starts Wednesday and runs through Sunday.
The biggest names who will compete include 2024 Tour champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and two-time Giro winner Elisa Longo Borghini, but there are a handful of riders either returning to the peloton or with improving form who will be interesting to watch...
Since the race will prove to be a baseline for some riders – especially some who didn't race the Giro – going into other big targets, I am turning this week's newsletter into one big Tour de Suisse preview. Enjoy.
Tour de Suisse contenders
As far as the GC goes, a few riders who have either been away from racing for a while or who skipped the Giro will return to the peloton for the Tour de Suisse.
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney opted out of the Giro after racing the Ardennes + La Vuelta Femenina combo. She finished eighth overall at the Spanish race, and knowing her major target is the Tour, this week will be a way for her to see how she's feeling before another large training block. The time trial and final stage, in particular, are a way for her to see what still needs tuning going into the Tour in August.
The next most interesting name on the startlist is Kim Le Court-Pienaar. Le Court-Pienaar had a crash in the Tour of Flanders that resulted in a fractured wrist. The subsequent surgery has kept the Tour de France stage winner out of racing, but she's back for the Tour de Suisse to see how the form holds up.
Le Court-Pienaar's teammate, Urska Zigart, normally has a good showing at the Tour de Suisse and is coming off a decent performance at the Giro. She is worth keeping an eye on.
Defending champion Marlen Ruesser returns to her home race, where she won two stages last year before going on to nearly win the Giro. The time trial is Ruesser's stage to lose, which means that the overall is too. She was climbing extremely well at the Giro, considering she was returning from a major injury, also sustained at the Tour of Flanders.
For EF Education-Oatly, Cédrine Kerbaol will be testing her form in the hopes of a good showing at the Tour de France, where she will want to lead the American team.
Without Demi Vollering, FDJ United-Suez will turn to Juliette Labous and Lauren Dickson to lead the squad. After her last two performances at the Itzulia Women and the Giro, Dickson is the standout rider, but Labous is an excellent time trialist, so that could mean the team goes in with a joint leadership situation.
If the age-old saying "you are only as good as your last race" is true, Elisa Longo Borghini is coming in for UAE-Team ADQ as a winner, having scored a stage victory in the final stage of the Giro. She will be looking for stage wins, but also to see how she stacks up in the time trial going into nationals. Brodie Chapman will also make her return to the peloton, as will Maeva Squiban, following a post-Vuelta a Burgos rest.
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