De Vries pips Dickson to deliver fairytale first win at Tour de Suisse opener

The opening stage of the Tour de Suisse women's race was won by Femke de Vries on Wednesday. The Dutch rider from Visma | Lease a Bike beat Lauren Dickson (FDJ-SUEZ) in a two-up sprint. It is the first professional win of the 32-year-old's career. De Vries will now start Thursday in the race leader's jersey.

Start and finish are in the same location every day at this year's Tour de Suisse, and on Wednesday that was the Italian city of Sondrio. The opening stage featured a completely flat first half, with some climbing to tackle in the second half. The finale also included a short but extremely steep wall.

That flat opening phase meant nobody was able to ride away. Daniela Hezinová made a brief attempt for Picnic-PostNL, but was quickly reeled back in. Only on the first climb of the day did the pace in the bunch genuinely ramp up, with riders being shed one by one.

A select group of eleven riders eventually formed. From that group, Femke de Vries, Lauren Dickson (FDJ-SUEZ) and Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) managed to ride clear. On the descent of the second climb, however, Žigart — the instigator of that move — was forced to let go, leaving only De Vries and Dickson out front.

Heading into the finale, the duo out front held around a minute and a half on the peloton — many riders had made their way back to the lead group — and just under a minute on the chasing Žigart, who was riding alone. The Slovenian was soon swept up in the run-in to the final climb.

That final climb was short — just 1.1 kilometres — but with an average gradient of 12 per cent it still had the potential to cause real damage. And it did, but mainly in the chasing group, where Kasia Niewiadoma shed her rivals.

Out front, De Vries couldn't shake Dickson, and the pair still had half a minute on the field with around 3.5 kilometres to the line. The two of them would decide between themselves who would wear the first race leader's jersey on Thursday. Niewiadoma, meanwhile, had been caught by the biggest favourites for the overall win.

A sprint would settle it, and both riders went early. De Vries hit the front and, despite Dickson briefly coming alongside, the British rider couldn't get past. De Vries claimed her first professional win.