Demi Vollering wins the 2nd stage of the Tour de Romandie Féminin. After an uphill sprint, the Dutchwoman wins by a wafer-thin margin ahead of her team-mate Lotte Kopecky, the new leader.
Vollering and Kopecky proved to be the strongest as part of a twelve-strong leading group in the almost 10 km long final climb to the Valais vacation resort of Vercorin. Ultimately, the final sprint had to decide the day's victory, in which Vollering prevailed over Kopecky by a few centimetres.
It was just not enough for the Swiss-based top favorite and last year's winner to take the yellow leader's jersey. Kopecky was allowed to take it. The Belgian world champion, who had already finished second in the previous day's stage, leads the overall classification ahead of Sunday's final stage with a two-second lead over Vollering. Third-placed Italian Gaia Realini, who also came 3rd in the daily classification, is already 42 seconds behind.
Noemi Rüegg is the best Swiss rider in 19th place, a good three minutes behind. The Zurich native crossed the finish line on Saturday just under three minutes behind the winner in twentieth place.
The overall winner will be crowned on Sunday in Morges. The small town on Lake Geneva is the start and finish of the final stage, with 144 hilly kilometers in between, on which the riders have to conquer more than 2000 meters of altitude.
SDA
