Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) claimed the overall victory at the Tour de Romandie Féminin in a nail-biting finish as Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) won the final undulating stage in Aigle in a three-up sprint.
Chabbey finished third on the stage behind Vas and stage one winner Paula Blasi (UAE ADQ) to claim the first stage race victory of her career.
Overnight leader Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) was distanced on the final climb of the day, but chased valiantly in the final 10km to almost close the gap to the front three.
You may like
At the climax of a hilly stage that started and finished near the UCI headquarters in Aigle, Chabbey unleashed a rapid burst of speed on the Antagnes climb 12 kilometres from the line, taking only Blasi with her as Žigart and Kastelijn struggled on the steepest pitches.
Žigart may have made it back on, but for a mistake on the descent of Antagnes, giving the AG Insurance-Soudal rider too much to do in the closing stages.
It was Chabbey, though, who had the widest smile of all as she claimed the biggest victory of her career just a stone’s throw from her childhood home in Geneva.
Chabbey celebrates at the finish in Aigle (Image credit: Getty Images)
“After yesterday, I was very happy,” Chabbey said after the stage, having won stage 2 on Saturday.
“This morning, we said we have nothing to lose. We had a plan and we executed it well.
“We wanted it to be hard on the climbs and for Juliette [Labous] to follow the attacks, and I could attack on the last climb. I wasn’t feeling that great, but then the team really pushed me. It’s a team win. It’s unbelievable.”
How it unfolded
With the race finely poised heading into the final stage, multiple riders had the opportunity to clinch the 2025 Tour de Romandie Féminin yellow jersey on a lumpy day around the home of the UCI in Aigle.
Just 13 seconds separated the top three on GC heading into the finale, with Chabbey and Kastelijn hoping to invent a plan to overhaul Žigart over the day’s 122 kilometres and five third-category climbs.
The opening hour was played out over flat roads before the first of two ascents of Le Châtel (1.7km at 6.4%). A strong group of 13 riders moved away from the bunch, including the likes of 2022 champion Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal), Claire Steels (Movistar) and Laura Stigger (SD Worx-Protime), who was the best-placed overall in 12th, 3:19 off the lead of Žigart.
The leaders built an advantage of just over two minutes heading into the first climb, which was crested first by Morgane Coston (Roland Le Dévoluy) with the Queen of the Mountains jersey up for grabs. Steels rolled over the intermediate sprint in first place before the leaders approached La Rasse (2km at 8.8%), the second climb of the day. Steels attacked to score maximum points, putting herself within touching distance of the QOM jersey, held by Žigart. The Brit would go on to cross the line first on the second time up Le Châtel to draw level with Žigart.
Coston and Steels during stage 3 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Behind, FDJ-SUEZ were applying pressure on Le Châtel, hoping to put Chabbey in the best position possible and to create problems for Žigart. They continued into the following 20km of flat road and brought the gap down to less than a minute with 30km and two more climbs to go, the bunch splitting as the wind howled into the valley.
The leaders held a gap of 40 seconds heading into the stage’s penultimate climb, a second ascent of La Rasse. Before that, Steels had crossed another intermediate sprint in first to take over the lead of the points classification after her breakaway exploits in the previous stage. Steels’ efforts paid off with the Brit going home with both the QOM and points jerseys. Stigger led onto the climb and drove the pace in an attempt to stay clear of the closing bunch. As Steels claimed the points over the top, the lead group had reduced to nine with a 30-second gap heading into the final 20km of the stage.
With the gap closing, attacks began to fly from the 20-strong bunch behind. All was together heading into the final climb of Antagnes (1.2km @ 9%), which crested with 10km to go. Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) was the first to attack, followed by Chabbey and several others. Žigart was initially slow to follow, but managed to close the gap to create a front group of six with the top three all there. Chabbey pushed on over the steepest section, taking stage one winner Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) with her, with Žigart and Kastelijn distanced by 15 seconds over the top with Blasi’s team-mate Magnaldi on the wheel.
Žigart chased valiantly in the leader’s yellow jersey (Image credit: Getty Images)
As Chabbey flew up front, Žigart made a mistake on the descent, going wide on a corner and losing the wheel of the now swollen chasing group. Chabbey was now in the driving seat with 4km to go, as Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) closed down the leading pair. Žigart re-joined the chase shortly after and had a gap of 20 seconds to cross if she wanted to take her first WorldTour stage race victory.
As the road dragged towards the final kilometre, the gap halved with Žigart herself pulling on the front with her team-mate Mireia Benito contributing what she could. With 1km left, the gap was just 8 seconds, and Vas and Blasi began to lean on Chabbey. However, the Swiss had enough to keep the chase at bay as Žigart faded behind.
In the final 200 metres, Vas launched an impressive sprint to snatch victory on the final stage, with Blasi two bike lengths behind in second. Chabbey’s efforts were enough for her to claim the yellow jersey two weeks after winning the QOM jersey at the Tour de France Femmes, with Žigart’s group also containing third-placed Kastelijn, 11 seconds behind at the finish.
The final podium at the 2025 Tour de Romandie Féminin (Image credit: Getty Images)Results
Results powered by FirstCycling