Tour de Suisse Women 2022 Race Preview

The Swiss National team here is going to have great fun on home roads. Marlen Reusser had to leave the Women’s Tour early after hurting her wrist in a crash. If she’s fully recovered then the TT stage will absolutely play to her strengths. We’ve seen Reusser climb well before, like at last year’s Ceratizit Challenge. A gradual climb will help her out. We’ve not seen Jolanda Neff on the road since this race last season where she finished 4th overall. The off-road start is a proper wildcard where we’ve seen her win road stage races in the past and she’s a reasonable time triallist too. We could see another top-10 GC finish. Sina Frei is another off-road star who will be good here. She was 10th in GC in last year’s Tour de Suisse but was also in the front group at the World Championships in Flanders last year. Ultimately she finished near the back of that group in 15th but that’s encouraging for Stages 1 and 3 here at least.

After a fantastic spring campaign, we saw Elisa Balsamo not quite back to 100% form at the RideLondon Classique. Despite that, she was still 2nd twice behind Lorena Wiebes. Stage 1 will be her best shot for a stage win and she’s maybe got a chance on Stage 3 as well after some of the climbing we saw her do earlier in the year. Teammate Lucinda Brand was 6th in GC here last season. We saw her making moves in the Spanish races but she was very much on team support detail there. The TT stage could be interesting, Brand isn’t on the Reusser/Van Dijk type tier of time triallist but we’ve seen her not too far behind previously. She could well be the best all-around option for the GC here. Gaining time on the TT and not losing much on the climb.

It’s probably going to be a stage hunting race for Team DSM. They bring names like Liane Lippert and Floortje Mackaij to the Tour de Suisse Women. Lippert is a great shout for Stage 3, with the potential to go early on the Cat 3 climb or towards the end of the stage when the gradient gets a touch steeper. She’s also got a chance on Stage 4 too but the climb is probably too long for her to really excel on it. Floortje Mackaij is another for whom Stage 3 is a good shout but she could also do something on Stage 1. The stage is so short that it will reward attacking racing and any rider who can go clear on the repeated climb will have a good chance.

Lisa Klein presents an interesting option for Canyon SRAM. One of the few genuinely good time triallists here, there’s an outside chance she can gain enough time to offset her less strong climbing. She’s very much going to be a rider trying to cling onto their gains rather than defend from the front group on Stage 4. Canyon SRAM do look good for Stage 4 though with Pauliena Rooijakkers on the team. She had a highly impressive May, winning Durango-Durango and finishing 2nd at Itzulia Women. The Dutch rider really looked to have moved up a gear and is beginning to fulfil her potential at her new team. Like many, she will lose time on the time trial so will have to attack the climb for a a high GC spot.

Evita Muzic has come back strongly from her injuries from last year’s Women’s Tour. Since the 3rd Stage of the Vuelta a Burgos, Muzic hasn’t been off the podium. That’s the last 4 races, including mountain top finishes in Burgos, Alpes Gresivaudan and Mont Ventoux. Muzic’s teammate Cavalli won on Ventoux, with Muzic rounding out the podium there. She’s likely the most in-form climber here and my favourite for Stage 4. The time trial will probably harm her GC chances, however.

After winning 2 stages of the Bretagne Ladies Tour, I’d expected more from Marta Bastianelli at the RideLondon Classique where she took 2nd and 8th place before being well back in the sprint in London. With the likes of Wiebes not here, Bastianelli will continue what she’s been doing all year so far and hoovering up wins against weaker sprint fields. 6 wins, plus the overall at the Festival Elsy Jacobs is a good season, even if none of them has come at WorldTour level in 2022.