Femke de Vries beat Lauren Dickson in a two-up final sprint to win stage one of the Tour de Suisse Women on Wednesday.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider and her FDJ United-Suez rival were together from around 17km to go of the tough opening stage of the Women’s WorldTour race, and the pair worked together, opening up a significant advantage before the final. As both searched for their first ever professional victory, Dickson opened up the sprint, before De Vries came round and triumphed in Sondrio.
De Vries now leads the race narrowly over Dickson; Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) attacked the group of favourites to finish third.
The pair who contested the win were part of a significant breakaway which split off from what was left of the peloton with 42km to go, which was made up of 12 riders. Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) launched off the front on the penultimate climb of Triangia, before she was caught by De Vries and then Dickson. When De Vries went hard on the descent, the two other attackers could not follow, before Dickson made it back on, setting up the finish.
There was a brief attack from Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) on the final climb of Bordighi, but this did not last, which then allowed Kerbaol to launch off the front. The ostensible favourites for the race, Niewiadoma-Phinney, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) and defending champion Marlen Reusser (Movistar) now trail De Vries by 48 seconds, and Dickson by 44.
“It’s my first win in a UCI race so it’s super special, I’m incredibly happy, I don’t believe it still,” De Vries said on television post-race.
“I was really scared for the climb. At the beginning of the climb, I felt like I had a bit of cramp, I never get cramp, and now it starts? I just committed, I heard the gap was getting smaller, so I just had to go all out. I pushed Lauren onto the front at the beginning [of the final] and she started the sprint and I was really patient, I’m really proud of myself how I did that. It’s my first WorldTour win, my first win, so incredible.”
Asked what being in the lead would be like, she replied: “Super special, the leader’s jersey in a WorldTour race. I have super good memories of this race from two years ago. It was my first WorldTour race with the team, and I already got a third place, and I really love this race.”
“It’s an interesting race, because the roads are really narrow, and it’s quite technical,” Dickson, for her part, said. “Being in position is so important, Franzi [Koch] did some really good moves, I was able to bridge across, and from there it was just pure racing. My radio wasn’t working, so I was really trying to race on instinct. I think we worked well together, maybe I messed up the sprint a bit at the end, but it’s not often I find myself in that situation.
“I think I went too early. I wasn’t sure, because the ramp, if I could get the momentum, but I didn’t quite have it, but it was good.
“I wanted to give it everything I had, and to stay attentive to what she was planning as well, it’s always watching the other rider and calculating your own moves.”
Asked about the next days, Dickson added: “I’ll have to see what our DS plans, but we’d love to take the win in this race. We have a lot of motivation from the Giro and I think we work really well as a team, so we’ll just have to see what Lars [Boom] says.”
Results
Tour de Suisse Women 2026 stage 1: Sondrio > Sondrio (109.3km)
1. Femke de Vries (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 2:56:13
2. Lauren Dickson (GBr) FDJ United-Suez, at same time
3. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly, +29s
4. Kim Le Court (Mri) AG Insurance-Soudal, +38s
5. Sarah Van Dam (Can) Visma-Lease a Bike
6. Steffi Häberlin (Sui) SD Worx-Protime
7. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE Team ADQ
8. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Movistar
9. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol) Canyon-SRAM, all at same time
10. Juliette Berthet (Fra) FDJ United-Suez, +57s
General classification after stage 1
1. Femke de Vries (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 2:56:13
2. Lauren Dickson (GBr) FDJ United-Suez, +4s
3. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly, +35s
4. Kim Le Court (Mri) AG Insurance-Soudal, +48s
5. Sarah Van Dam (Can) Visma-Lease a Bike
6. Steffi Häberlin (Sui) SD Worx-Protime
7. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE Team ADQ
8. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Movistar
9. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol) Canyon-SRAM, all at same time
10. Juliette Berthet (Fra) FDJ United-Suez, +1:07s
Explore More
