Canyon//SRAM Racing pulled off a coup on stage 3 of the 2024 Women's Tour de Suisse. The German team put Neve Bradbury and Kasia Niewiadoma into the day's leading group. On the final climb, the Australian-Polish duo held off the three fellow breakaway riders and rode the final kilometres as a tandem. In the end, 22-year-old Bradbury crossed the finish line ahead of 29-year-old Niewiadoma.
We wanted to win this stage and make the race tough. We managed to do that. It's really great - Neve Bradbury in the official winner's interview
Canyon//SRAM Racing with three riders in the top 10
Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx - Protime) defended her overall lead, but Bradbury's coup pushed her up seven positions to second place in the overall standings and Niewiadoma also moved up six places in the overall standings to sixth place. This puts her three places ahead of her German team-mate Antonia Niedermaier.
Women's Tour de Suisse 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 3
- Neve Bradbury (Canyon//SRAM Racing) 3:16:36
- Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +0:00
- Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:55
- Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) +1:55
- Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) +2:11
- Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx - Protime) +2:11
- Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) +2:11
- Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Cannondale) +2:11
- Elena Pirrone (Roland) +2:49
- Brodie Chapman (Lidl-Trek) +2:53
The current standings in the overall standings
- Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx - Protime) 5:45:34
- Neve Bradbury (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +1:22
- Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) +1:26
- Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) +1:28
- Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Cannondale) +1:39
- Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +2:14
- Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +2:56
- Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) +3:11
- Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +3:22
- Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike) +4:11
How the 3rd stage of the 2024 Women's Tour de Suisse went
There were numerous attacks in a hectic early phase. The race was difficult to control due to the topographically demanding course. In the end, a strong leading group was able to break away, consisting of Kasia Niewiadoma and Neve Bradbury (both Canyon//SRAM Racing), Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), Elena Pirrone (Roland) and Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike).
The peloton gave the quintet a lead of around three minutes. This meant that Spratt, who was 3:28 minutes behind Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx - Protime) in the overall standings before stage 3, was only a few seconds off the virtual yellow jersey. But thanks to the help of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL, who wanted to secure 5th place overall for Juliette Labous, SD Worx - Protime got the situation halfway under control again and reduced the gap to the escapees to two minutes.
Bradbury and Niewiadoma in a class of their own
They split up on the final climb to Vaugondry (2nd category). With 16 kilometres to go, the duo from Canyon//SRAM Racing, consisting of Bradbury and Niewiadoma, pulled away. Meanwhile, Demi Vollering took the initiative herself in the group of favourites and set off in pursuit. Only Elisa Longo Borghini, Gaia Realini (both Lidl-Trek) and Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Cannondale) were able to keep up.
Vollering brought the group back to within a good 1:40 minutes of Niewiadoma and Bradbury and also ensured that at least one breakaway rider, Pirrone, was caught, but the two riders from the German team were unable to take the victory. While the two front runners worked together in an exemplary manner in the final kilometres, there was disagreement in the group around Vollering. Longo Borghini and Realini did not want to work together, as their team-mate Spratt was still riding ahead of them. As a result, Cadzow and Vollering were forced to ride themselves and in the end were sprinted off by Longo Borghini in the battle for fifth place.
