Backing up her wins in the stages on Saturday and Monday, Lucinda Brand (Trek Segrafredo) took the risky approach of attacking early with 20km remaining in the race and reaped the rewards as she powered away from overnight leader Kristen Faulkner, of BikeExchange-Jayco, finishing in 02:59:20, 17 seconds faster than the runner-up.
Trek Segrafredo’s Lucinda Brand won the fourth and final stage at Tour de Suisse Women, securing the overall victory in the process.
Backing up her wins in the stages on Saturday and Monday, Brand took the risky approach of attacking early with 20km remaining in the race and reaped the rewards as she powered away from overnight leader Kristen Faulkner, of BikeExchange-Jayco, finishing in 2:59:20, 17 seconds faster than the runner-up.
It was a tense finale and it looked like going down to the wire when Faulkner retook the lead with just a kilometre left in the race.
Brand stayed close and it was heartache for Faulkner, who skid and crashed against the barrier on the tight final turn inside the final few hundred metres thanks to the damp surface, and although she managed to get back on her bike, she was unable to recover the leader’s position.
Brodie Chapman, of FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futurescope, completed the podium, with Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) and Pauliena Rooijakeers, of CANYON/SRAM Racing, making up the top five.
Rooijakkers was third, one minute and 19 seconds slower than the leader, Chapman was fourth, two minutes and 39 seconds adrift and Jolanda Neff (Swiff Cycling), three minutes and one second behind, was fifth.
