The Spanish Paula Blasi won the 1st stage of the Tour de Romandie Female in Villars-sur-Ollon and seizes the yellow jersey. Three Swiss ended in the top-10 of this initial time trial.
The UAE team runner completed the 4.4 km long course in 11’17 ”. She imposed herself in front of the Slovenian Urska Zigart, partner of Tadej Pogacar (+17 ”), and the French Juliette Labous (+19 ”).
Only 63 of the 93 runners registered were able to start, five teams having been excluded from the race after refusing to designate and equip one of their runners to participate in a GPS chip test. Polish favorite Katarzyna Niewiadoma and Zurichoise Noemi Rüegg have notably been disqualified.
Häberlin and Chabbey in the blow
In the Swiss camp, the Steffi Mountain Mountain Hike Häberlin took a good 6th place, at 29 ” from Blasi. The Geneva Elise Chabbey ranked 9th, 32 ” from the Spanish winner. Jasmin Liechti 7th.
On Saturday, the peloton reduced by a third will leave from Conthey to arrive at Tzoumaz after a final ascent of 12.8 km at 8% on average. The third and last stage scheduled for Sunday around Aigle will offer a terrain conducive to the adventurers.
>> Read also: Five teams having refused a GPS chip test did not start!
ATS/TAKE
