15th June – Stage 4: Küssnacht – Küssnacht
The final stage in Switzerland saw a hard race from the flag drop with a strong pace throughout the day, and a true race of attrition. Team Picnic PostNL were attentive for the larger moves and Becky Storrie managed to make it into a promising group, but they were soon brought to heel.
In the peloton, the team rallied around Eleonora Ciabocco who looked to try and defend her best young rider jersey. Going onto the last ascent of the day, the steep gradients and a fast pace completely split the already reduced peloton. Ciabocco had to let go of the wheels at the front, but guided and helped by Nienke Vinke, she pushed as hard as she could over the top and down to the finish. Ultimately Ciabocco would just miss out on the white jersey, but a gutsy performance was enough to secure her first ever top ten position on GC at WorldTour level.
Ciabocco expressed: “Today was a hard stage once again. We tried to stay together from the start, especially because it was raining. Nienke, Francesca and Becky were really sharp for the breakaways, and Becky then jumped in the big group and it was good for us. We focused then for the positioning onto the last two climbs, where again first Becky and then Francesca positioned me well, and I could start the climbs in the first part of the bunch. Then on the last climb was just about legs. I didn’t feel great today, but Nienke was with me for all the climb and she motivated me to not give up. We went full gas to close the gap on Bunel, but it wasn’t enough. We lost the white jersey but in the end it’s my first top ten in the GC. I’m really proud of this team and I have to say thanks to all the team for believing in me at every stage, it meant a lot.”
