Elisa Longo Borghini won stage 2 of the 2026 Tour de Suisse Women with a powerful late attack in Locarno, turning the final climbs into a double victory for UAE Team ADQ. The Italian national champion went clear on the second of the two category 3 climbs, opened a decisive gap on the reduced favourites’ group, and held off Sarah Van Dam to take both the stage win and the overall lead.
Van Dam finished second for Team Visma | Lease a Bike, 30 seconds behind, after briefly becoming the closest chaser once Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and Marlen Reusser took a wrong turn in the finale. Steffi Häberlin was third for Team SD Worx-Protime, ahead of Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney, with the main GC gaps already beginning to stretch before the decisive weekend stages.
Femke de Vries began the day in yellow after her stage 1 victory in Sondrio, but the Dutch rider lost the race lead after being distanced in the finale. Lauren Dickson, second overall overnight, picked up bonus seconds during the stage and briefly moved closer to the lead, but she also struggled once the race exploded on the final climbs. Longo Borghini now leads the general classification, with Dickson second at 27 seconds and Van Dam third at 34 seconds.
Fast start but no early break
The second stage started and finished in Locarno, covering 105.6 kilometres on a route that looked calmer than stage 1 for much of the day but carried a difficult sting in the finale. The first half was relatively flat, but the closing sequence featured the Fanghi climb, 3.5 kilometres at 7 per cent, followed quickly by the Via Consiglio Mezzano, 1.4 kilometres at 9 per cent, before a fast descent to the finish.
The peloton rolled through a 4.1-kilometre neutralised section before racing began properly. Early attacks came quickly, but nothing gained ground in the first part of the stage. The pace stayed brisk, with the bunch still together after 10 kilometres and the average speed close to 45km/h.
There was one early abandon, with Linda Zanetti leaving the race for unspecified reasons. Otherwise, the opening phase was about positioning and patience. Team Visma | Lease a Bike had the leader’s jersey through De Vries but only a small squad to defend it, making their race more about following the right moves than controlling the entire peloton.
De Vries had said before the start that the route could become tactical and that having Van Dam in the finale gave her team multiple cards to play. That proved accurate, although by the end of the day those cards had been reshuffled in a way that favoured Longo Borghini.
Cipressi and Vanpachtenbeke go clear
The break of the day formed with around 70 kilometres still to race, when Carlotta Cipressi of Human Powered Health and Margot Vanpachtenbeke of Lidl-Trek attacked on a rising section. Their initial gap was only around 20 seconds, but the peloton eased enough for the move to grow.
Both riders were far enough down overall not to pose a threat to De Vries. Cipressi had started the day more than 12 minutes down, while Vanpachtenbeke was over 18 minutes back. That gave the peloton room to let them ride, and the gap rose through 40 seconds, then 55 seconds, before reaching 1:40.
The stage’s bonus sprints at Lodrino became important behind. Vanpachtenbeke took the first sprint ahead of Cipressi, then did the same again at the second. The remaining bonus second in the peloton was more fiercely contested, and Dickson picked up third place on both occasions. That reduced her gap to De Vries in the virtual general classification to just 2 seconds.
De Vries then had a scare when she crashed in the middle of the peloton. The yellow jersey got back on her bike quickly and was brought back by teammates without visible consequences, but it added another layer of tension to a day where she already had limited team resources.
Break resists before the finale
Vanpachtenbeke and Cipressi continued to hold the front of the race through the middle section. Their advantage reached 2:22 around the second sprint phase, while counter-attacks flickered behind without changing the race for long.
Josie Talbot made a lone attempt to bridge with around 40 kilometres remaining, using a lull in the bunch to move between the peloton and the break. For a short time, she got to within 45 seconds of the two leaders, but the move never looked fully established and she was later caught.
The final intermediate sprint came at Cugnaso, where Vanpachtenbeke again took the points without serious challenge from Cipressi. The peloton did not fight hard for the remaining point, which went to Solbjørk Minke Anderson.
By 24 kilometres to go, the break’s advantage had dropped under a minute for the first time in more than half an hour. The bunch was beginning to bear down on the two leaders, and the final climbs were close enough for the GC teams to start taking over.
Cipressi and Vanpachtenbeke were caught with 19 kilometres remaining, ending a 51-kilometre escape and resetting the race just before the decisive phase.
Final climbs split the favourites
The Fanghi climb immediately began to break up the peloton. EF Education-Oatly and Movistar were among the teams working near the front, while De Vries hovered well positioned early on. The road quickly reduced the bunch to fewer than 20 riders.
Reusser and Longo Borghini started to increase the pressure, then Niewiadoma-Phinney made a more pronounced acceleration. The front of the race narrowed to five key riders: Niewiadoma-Phinney, De Vries, Longo Borghini, Reusser and Van Dam.
That was a useful situation for Team Visma | Lease a Bike in theory, with De Vries and Van Dam both present. But the pace soon became too much for the race leader. Niewiadoma-Phinney and Longo Borghini attacked, and De Vries could not respond.
On the fast descent between the two climbs, Van Dam locked up on a corner, allowing Niewiadoma-Phinney and Longo Borghini to gain a few more metres. Reusser was still chasing, and the race was now down to the riders most capable of changing the overall picture.
Longo Borghini goes for broke
Longo Borghini made her decisive move on the second category 3 climb, the Via Consiglio Mezzano. With 9 kilometres remaining, she attacked and immediately created a gap. Niewiadoma-Phinney was caught by Reusser behind, while Van Dam recovered from her earlier scare and formed part of the chase.
The Italian national champion was relentless. She had started the day 48 seconds down on GC, so a stage-winning attack carried a clear overall reward as well. As De Vries slipped to more than a minute behind her, the virtual race lead moved firmly towards Longo Borghini.
Over the summit, Longo Borghini still had a gap on a small chase group of Van Dam, Niewiadoma-Phinney and Reusser. Then came a crucial twist. Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney took a wrong turn in the finale, briefly losing the course and effectively removing themselves from the immediate chase.
That left Van Dam alone behind Longo Borghini. She was only 15 seconds down inside the final kilometre, but the stage had already tilted decisively towards UAE Team ADQ.
Longo Borghini takes stage and yellow
Longo Borghini held her margin to the finish, taking her first Tour de Suisse Women stage win and moving into the overall lead. It was a classic late-race move from a rider who understood the full value of the moment: the stage, the jersey and a significant GC gap all came from the same attack.
Van Dam reached the finish 30 seconds down, a strong result after an aggressive finale and a reminder that Team Visma | Lease a Bike still has more than one GC card even after De Vries lost yellow. Häberlin took third, ahead of Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney, at around 47 seconds.
The wrong turn for Reusser and Niewiadoma-Phinney was a costly moment, but Longo Borghini had already put the race under pressure before that error. Her attack had created the winning gap, and the confusion behind only made the final margin more secure.
De Vries’ time in the leader’s jersey ended after just one stage. She had resisted well early in the finale, especially after her mid-stage crash, but the combination of repeated accelerations and the final short climbs exposed the difficulty of defending with a small team against several strong GC rivals.
GC opens before the weekend
Longo Borghini now leads the Tour de Suisse Women, with Dickson second at 27 seconds and Van Dam third at 34 seconds. That puts UAE Team ADQ in a strong position, but the race is far from settled. The weekend still includes the time trial and the final mountain stage, both of which can change the overall standings again.
For Longo Borghini, this was a statement after stage 1 had gone the way of the more opportunistic late move. She did not need a long-range attack in Locarno. Instead, she waited until the two final climbs, followed the right accelerations, then used the second ascent to commit fully.
Dickson limited the damage well enough to remain second overall, helped by the bonus seconds she collected earlier in the stage. Van Dam’s second place on the day moved her into third and gave Team Visma | Lease a Bike a new GC platform, even if losing the leader’s jersey to Longo Borghini changed the team’s position.
Reusser, Niewiadoma-Phinney, Häberlin and Kerbaol remain in the wider picture, but the race already has a clear new leader. Longo Borghini took the stage by making the strongest move at the right moment, and the Tour de Suisse Women now heads towards its decisive stages with UAE Team ADQ in control.
Tour de Suisse Women 2026 stage 2 result
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Main photo credit: Getty
