This Saturday, Quebecer Clara Émond from EF Education – Cannondale helped New Zealander Kim Cadzow take fifth place in Villars-sur-Ollon during the first stage of the Tour de Suisse.

“We all had a little more role to play in helping our leader who was Kim today,” Clara Emond told Sportcom, who finished 28th on Saturday (4 minutes and 4 seconds).

The work of the EF Education – Cannondale team paid off for Cadzow who won the New Zealand time trial last February. On Saturday, she came close to finishing fourth behind Elise Chabbey (Canyon//SRAM Racing), but it was in the last kilometer that she was overtaken by Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) falling 1 minute behind and 3 seconds on winner Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime).

“It’s a stage that was still short, so it was definitely felt a little in the peloton. Everyone was a little more nervous,” Emond added.

In the final climb, the Dutch champion Vollering accelerated just over a kilometer from the finish line to finally win this first stage ahead of the Italian Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek).

“For me, the goal was more to get back into the swing of things a bit because my last race was at La Vuelta and I only did 2 stages because I broke my elbow. Afterwards, I was pretty sick too,” said Clara Emond.

“Tomorrow is quite special because it’s a 15 kilometer time trial, which is not very long, but there is a long 10 kilometer climb. It’s almost just an uphill climb, so I think in my case it’s a good thing. I hope to have good legs and feel good tomorrow. »

The Tour de Suisse continues this Sunday with a time trial race.

It was on a 177-kilometer course in Durbuy that Guillaume Boivin and Pier-André Côté (Israel-Premier Tech) took part in this fourth stage of the Tour of Belgium, this Saturday.

After today’s event, Côté is now in the top 10 of the general classification (35 seconds), while Boivin is in 34th place (1 minute and 50 seconds).

Spaniard Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) finished first, winning the final sprint at the top of the Mur de Durbuy against Frenchman Pierre Gautherat (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) who followed in second place. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finished third, slightly behind his companions by 3 seconds.

Tomorrow, cyclists will ride the fifth and final stage of the 2024 Tour of Belgium with a 186.2-kilometer route through the streets of Brussels.