Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) sped to victory on stage two of the Tour de Romandie Féminin on Saturday, beating Urška Žigart by three seconds in an uphill sprint to the line at La Tzoumaz.
The victory was the first by a Swiss rider in the event and also the first WorldTour win by Chabbey, but Žigart had plenty to smile about too as she took over as race leader in a two-woman sprint to the line.
The AG Insurance-Soudal rider had started the day in second place overall due to her strong time trial on Friday’s opening stage, and ended Saturday’s stage 8 seconds ahead of Chabbey.
“I’m a little bit sad that I didn’t have the legs to win, but I have to say chapeau to Elise,” Žigart said. “She played her strengths. But I’m happy to walk away with the yellow jersey today and we will give it our all for tomorrow.”
Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) was third, six second back, while overnight leader Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) got into difficulty on the long final climb and lost her yellow jersey. She finished sixth, 1:12 behind Chabbey, and is now fourth overall.
The 123.2km stage from Conthey was mostly flat for the first 110km, with just two ascents of the short third category climb of Chamoson to test the riders. That meant the long first category ascent to the finish would be the decider and there Žigart was the big aggressor.
The Slovenian rider made a big acceleration with 5.4km to go and splintered the GC group. Kastelijn was soon dropped but Chabbey was able to hold on and was clearly best in the final sprint.
A breakthrough for Žigart, or will a rival swoop?
The race concludes on Sunday with a hill stage starting and finishing in Aigle. It includes five category three climbs and with just 13 seconds separating Žigart, Chabbey and Kastelijn, could be a dramatic concluder.
“For sure we will try to keep the jersey, to walk away with the win. It is an interesting stage with a couple of climbs around Aigle. We will try to control it and we will see what happens.”
She was clear as to who will be the top threat on Sunday.
“For sure Elise, I will have to be careful to follow her. Already today on the climbs she proved that she is strong. I have to also see the general classification. I think we just have to stay attentive and play to our strengths. We have shown that we have a strong team here.”
Chabbey gets first World Tour win but almost didn’t start her home race: “I’d been ill for three days. I went to a wedding, was partying all night, didn’t recover… …frankly I should party more often”
— the Inner Ring blog (@inrng.com) 16 August 2025 at 13:34
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