Tour de Suisse Women 2024: The most important facts in brief
- Date: 15-18 June, 4 stages
- Distance~ 325 kilometres
- StartVillars-sur-Ollon, GoalChampagne
- Profile: Two hilly stages, one mountain finish, one time trial
- UCI category: Women's World Tour
- Organiser: Cycling Unlimited
- Premiere: 2021, 4th edition
- Last year's winnerMarlen Reusser
What do the Tour de Suisse Women and women's suffrage in Switzerland have in common? It may sound strange, but when the tour was held for the first time in 2021, it was on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of this achievement, which had only arrived in Switzerland very late. After two stages in the first two years, the race grew to four stages and has been part of the Women's World Tour, the highest race category, ever since.
Last year, Marlen Reusser was the first Swiss woman to win the newly created home race. However, she will not be defending her title. Reusser is unable to compete due to illness; a feverish infection is causing her problems in a year in which she is already plagued by falls, corona and other illnesses. Even the big goal Olympia seems to be jeopardised.
Without Reusser, Swiss hopes rest on Chabbey, Vollering once again top favourite
Elise Chabbey (Canyon//SRAM) could carry further hopes of a Swiss victory, at least on one stage. The 31-year-old finished in the top 5 in the three- and four-day stage races in Spain in May at the Tour of the Basque Country and the Tour of Burgos, as well as fourth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. However, in Katarzyna Niewiadoma she has a captain in front of her who is also likely to have classification ambitions. Perhaps Antonia Niedermeier, the only German at the start alongside team-mate Justyna Czapla, is back in form.
Nevertheless, the first contender for overall victory is last year's runner-up Demi Vollering (SD Worx - Protime). In Niamh Fisher-Black, the top favourite has a noble helper who also has the potential for the podium of the tour and also celebrated a stage win at the Tour de Suisse last year. As last year, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) is also aiming for the podium, although her focus may be more on preparing for the Giro d'Italia.
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) and team-mate Evita Muzic are also possible front runners. For Fenix-Deceuninck, Yara Kastelijn is likely to fight for the top 10, while for Liv AlUla Jayco, Urska Zigart, the girlfriend of Tadej Pogacar, who finished seventh last year, is likely to take on this job. Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich PostNL) might have something more in mind. EF Education-Cannondale will be joined by the newly crowned US champion Kristen Faulkner, Kim Cadzow and the young Swiss rider Noemi Rüegg, whereby the Swiss rider will be able to count on the help of her strong colleagues this time.
Tour de Suisse Women 2024: This is the route
In any case, the tour will be hard enough. The order of the stages is somewhat unusual, but this can be explained by the date of the start at the weekend. It starts with a mountain finish in Villars-sur-Ollon. Although the section is not 60 kilometres long, it is anything but child's play. 1500 metres of altitude difference await.
The next day, a tough individual time trial is on the programme. 15.7 kilometres await. And basically this is also a mountain finish. After five flat kilometres, the route climbs steeply, with another 865 metres of elevation gain awaiting each rider. It is the same course that the men will also complete on Sunday. The two following stages, which are around 125 kilometres long, have a similar character, namely hilly. The overall winner can only be sure of her title once she has crossed the finish line after stage 4 in Champagne, as there will not be a closed peloton on these two days either, which will result in a bunch sprint.
Stage 1 | Saturday, 15 June | Villars-sur-Ollon - Villars-sur-Ollon | 58.6 kilometres | 1530 vertical metres
Stage 2 | Sunday, 16 June | Aigle - Villars-sur-Olon | 15.7 kilometres (individual time trial) | 865 vertical metres
Stage 3 | Monday, 17 June | Vevey - Champagne | 125.6 kilometres | 1993 vertical metres
Stage 4 | Tuesday, 18 June | Champagne - Champagne | 127.5 kilometres | 2124 vertical metres
Women's Tour de Suisse 2024: TV broadcast & live stream
Unlike the men's race, the women's race can also be seen live on television in Germany - at least in part. Eurosport will broadcast the first stage on Eurosport 2 and the rest digitally on Discovery Plus as a live stream. In Switzerland, the race, which is part of the UCI Women's World Tour, will be shown on SRF 2, RTS 2 and RSI LA2 on TV and with corresponding digital offerings.
