The young Spaniard Paula Blasi claimed victory in the opening stage of the Tour de Romandie Féminin, a 4.4 km uphill time trial from Huémoz to Villars-sur-Ollon. It was her first-ever WorldTour win.
UAE Team ADQ placed three riders in the top 10, with Erica Magnaldi finishing fifth and Alena Ivanchenko eighth.
It was a complicated day filled with controversy, as five teams were disqualified from the race by the UCI for refusing to take part in the test of a new safety device.
Once the race finally got underway, the short uphill time trial quickly unfolded. Alena Ivanchenko set a time of 11:47.92, holding the ‘hot seat’ as provisional leader for a long stretch. Erica Magnaldi later bettered that time with 11:45.68, but the fastest ride came from 22-year-old Catalan rider Paula Blasi, who stopped the clock at 11:17.69. She won the stage, finishing 17 seconds ahead of Urška Žigart (AG Insurance – Soudal Team) and 18 seconds ahead of Juliette Labous (FDJ – Suez).
Blasi also pulled on multiple jerseys as the first leader of the Swiss race. In addition to the yellow leader’s jersey for the General Classification, she now tops all other standings: Points, QOM, and Best Young Rider.
After her victory, Paula Blasi said: “I certainly didn’t expect to find myself so high today. I’m here to prepare as best as possible for the upcoming Tour de l’Avenir. I went full gas, but I definitely didn’t expect to win. The white jersey of the young riders classification was an objective, but having the yellow one too is just amazing for me. When they told me at the finish that I had the best time, I almost couldn’t believe it. We are here with a very strong team and we showed it right away today, with three riders in the top ten. We’ll see what happens in the next days, but we will definitely give our best to have a great race.”
Tomorrow’s second stage will take the peloton from Conthey to La Tzoumaz over 123.2 km, with a summit finish.
(ph. Getty Sport)
