Demi Vollering was unstoppable in the mountains with another strong performance in a time trial up Villars Sur Ollon in Tour de Suisse Women Stage 2.
It was one of the rare mountain time trials in women’s cycling, with the first 5 kilometres of the stage being flat. Some of the riders chose a road bike as Villars Sur Ollon (9.42 km, 8.05%) is a steep climb and the 7-minute flat section in the first part was not long enough to merit making a bike change before the climb as it would take too much time and unnecessary stress.
Demi Vollering again was the fastest on Villars Sur Ollon with 5.47 ᵉW/Kg for 30:25 min but her pacing strategy was saving the legs for the last 9:35 min, where she averaged 5.74 ᵉW/Kg and won the stage. Her ᵉW/Kg was slightly better on the power x time curve compared to the stage 1 mountain top finish in a road stage. Vollering’s biggest strength might be performing after fatigue and climbs in the legs, and her fresh power might be not that much better than her strongest rivals.
The second-fastest rider on the climb, Kim Cadzow, paced it evenly with 5.39 ᵉW/Kg for 30:47 min and 5.43 ᵉW/Kg in the last 3.1 kilometres. Elisa Longo Borghini and Juliette Labous used the same strategy, averaging 5.35 and 5.30 ᵉW/Kg for the whole climb and doing the final section with almost exact power. Antonia Nidermaier and Brodie Chapman both averaged in the last 3.1 kilometres 5.45 ᵉW/Kg, but for the full it was 5.27 and 5.21 ᵉW/Kg, meaning they conserved energy and did not blow up like Realini.
Some riders improved without extra kilojoules in the legs, pushing around 0.1 – 0.2 ᵉW/Kg more for four minutes on the longer climb. Lightweight climbers Gaia Realini and Marion Bunel even performed slightly worse on a climb in the time-trial than in the road stage.
Vollering won the stage and increased her lead in the GC as Realini lost 62 seconds. Longo Borghini after a successful performance moved to second place, while her teammates Chapman and Spratt also is in Top 8 after stage 2.
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