Courageous local competitor ended up in tears, but Vollering triumphs in 'her' Switzerland

Demi Vollering impressively dominated the opening stage of the Women's Tour of Switzerland on Saturday. The Dutch rider, who lives in Switzerland, caught up with local favorite Elise Chabbey on the final climb to Villars-sur-Ollons, causing the Swiss Canyon/SRAM rider to burst into tears at the finish line.

Before the stage, Vollering had made her intentions clear. "Switzerland is special to me because I live here. I was able to come by car, which is always nice," said the Dutchwoman, who had her boyfriend and dog waiting at the finish, eagerly wanting to claim both the first stage and the leader's jersey in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

The leader of SD Worx-Protime didn’t have it easy during the 58-kilometer stage with Villars-sur-Ollon as both the start and finish. Right from the start, on the Col de la Croix, the strong Chabbey broke away. The woman who lives in Geneva, who recently placed in the top five in both Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Vuelta and Tour of the Basque Country won by Vollering, demonstrated her strength. "She is a very strong lady, and the gap got quite big because she can go downhill so well. You don't want to let her get away on the descent because she can grab a lot of time there. There was definitely some panic," admitted Vollering.

A rider to keep an eye on, they realized at SD Worx-Protime. Nevertheless, Chabbey was allowed to start the 8.8 kilometer final climb to Villars-sur-Ollon with almost three minutes to spare, stirring excitement among the Swiss spectators for a potential local victory.

Thanks to the excellent effort of European champion Mischa Bredewold, the gap was reduced to two minutes with just over five kilometers remaining, but that was still two minutes. "It was really nice that my teammates took charge of the first half of the climb," Vollering stated afterward, having thanked Bredewold and Femke Gerritste for their support.

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Vollering and Realini pushed each other to the limit

The significant gap was, however, a signal for Gaia Realini of Lidl-Trek to attack. "I felt good and wanted to test myself, even though it was not an easy day," the Italian explained afterwards. "Gaia took over well, and I didn't realize at first, but we were down to just two. From that point, it was a matter of getting to Chabbey as quickly as possible," Vollering explained.

"It was cold and there was a lot of climbing, but I decided to attack anyway," Realini continued. "I kind of expected Vollering to follow. She's probably the last rider you want on your wheel, but I tried to focus mainly on myself. We managed to break away from the rest and eventually saw Chabbey ahead, achieving our first goal."

The unfortunate Canyon/SRAM rider was overtaken with 1.4 kilometers to the finish, leaving Realini and Vollering to battle it out. "Demi was ultimately too strong, but second place is good for me," Realini concluded after the race. "Fortunately, I had the legs to drop everyone, which was really nice," said the Dutch winner. "Anything can happen, so the time gain is always nice to have. It's a tough climb, which we have to do again in the time trial on Sunday. Maybe we can even do better," she hinted.

Vollering crossed the finish line visibly panting but seemed to have won on economy mode. "That's the trick: make it look easy, then you're doing well. It was a crazy stage because it was so short and with many altitude meters. There was some confusion in the peloton about how to approach it. In the end, it was a very beautiful stage and really tough," the Dutch rider concluded.