Stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse Women saw a breakaway victory, but the GC favourites still came out to play in the last 25km. Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco) managed to jump away in the flat final, and together with Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Élise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), she gained half a minute on the other GC riders, moving up in the overall classification.
“I thought it was a good opportunity to make a difference in the general classification. I tried a few times, and finally, the last one worked! There were three of us, but only Niewiadoma helped me. We did a good job together to get time in GC,” García explained.
Before that, there had been several attempts on the Buechehübeli climb that crested 19.3km from the line. García had been reacting to the moves on the climb, keeping her options open for the final.
“It was a long, hard stage. On the last climb, there was a lot of fatigue, and a selection was made. The last attack was from Niewiadoma and got some time, then the [GC] leaders were forced to close the gap. We went very fast,” said the 41-year-old Spaniard.
Racing in Switzerland in June, the first two stages were held under clear skies and in high temperatures.
“For me, the heat is not usually a problem, but it has changed a lot in a few days, and I needed to hydrate myself a lot. Yesterday I didn’t drink enough and it’s very important,” García pointed out the impact of the weather on the race.
Halfway through the Swiss stage race, she moved up in GC from 17th place to fifth, 1:59 minutes behind yellow jersey Marlen Reusser (Movistar).
García leapfrogged Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) and Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) who are just two seconds behind, but García believes that a lot can still happen in the race.
“I am happy with the result, and we’ll try to finish well. We have a strong team and always try to do our best and work together. On the last day, everything can change,” García was looking ahead to the hilly final stage around Küssnacht on Sunday.
