Demi Vollering won the second and penultimate stage of the Tour de Romandie ahead of her teammate Lotte Kopecky. The latter takes the yellow jersey of general leader.
Inseparable Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky! The two teammates in the SD Worx team did not give each other any presents between Chippis and Vercorin. The Dutchwoman and the Belgian fought for victory at the end of an extremely tight sprint.
Departing at the end of the season, Demi Vollering was not offered the yellow jersey on a plate by her teammate, now the favorite for the overall victory before the last stage in Morges. She had to fight against Kopecky to win in a photo finish.
Beaten by a hair’s breadth, the Belgian world champion wowed everyone, as no one expected her to perform at such a level on the climb to the Val d’Anniviers resort. She took on the yellow jersey with a 2-second lead over the woman who, on paper, should have been her leader to play for the general classification.
A tiny gap
As expected, this second stage – which was run without earpieces – was reduced to a hill climb. After a long run, the Italian Gaia Realini found herself alone against three SD-Worx riders 2.5 kilometres from the finish: Vollering and Kopecky, but also the New Zealander Niamh Fisher-Black. After several unsuccessful attempts by Realini, the two best broke away at the flamme rouge to fight for victory.
Yellow jersey after the first stage, Elisa Balsamo gave up her grip at the first foothills. As for the Swiss, they were unable to influence the race in the final climb against the best riders in the peloton. The best of them, Noemi Rüegg, took 20th place. She is 19th overall, 3’01 behind Kopecky.
ats/tzing
