Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) won the 23.7km individual time trial at Aarburg on Saturday, took the yellow jersey from Elisa Longo-Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), and opened up a 10-second GC lead heading into the decisive mountain finale at Villars-sur-Ollon. Reusser finished in 29:36, 11 seconds clear of Zoe Bäckstedt, while Longo-Borghini placed fifth at 1:04.
The result meant a real reshuffle in the GC with Reusser climbing four places to take the yellow jersey heading into the final day. Longo-Borghini, who took yellow on stage 2 after a solo victory, was disappointed with what the timings showed.
"This year I think I can't really do TTs. I don't know why, but my power is okay," Longo-Borghini said after the finish to Cycling Pro Net. "I just don't feel satisfied about my performance, but I tried to defend myself as much as I could. I think I'm in a good position ahead of tomorrow."
Stage 4 Results
Jun 20
| Pos | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Marlen REUSSER | MOVMovistar Team | 29:36 |
| 🥈 | Zoe BACKSTEDT | CSRCanyon//SRAM ZondaCrypto | +0:11 |
| 🥉 | Loes ADEGEEST | LTKLidl-Trek | +0:54 |
| 4 | Franziska KOCH | FDJFDJ United-SUEZ | +1:02 |
| 5 | Elisa LONGO BORGHINI | UADUAE Team ADQ | +1:05 |
| 6 | Brodie CHAPMAN | UADUAE Team ADQ | +1:09 |
| 7 | Maeva SQUIBAN | UADUAE Team ADQ | +1:11 |
| 8 | Femke DE VRIES | TVITeam Visma | Lease a Bike | +1:11 |
| 9 | Lauretta HANSON | LTKLidl-Trek | +1:12 |
| 10 | Cédrine KERBAOL | EFEEF Education-Oatly | +1:14 |
The Italian added that she has the power on the road bike but can't seem to push it through the pedals on her time trial frame making her feel like "a Scania in a wind tunnel," but when asked whether she was disappointed with the result she said that isn't what is important: "I don't really look at numbers like results. I look at my own performance."
She lost 1:05 to Reusser on the day, but she was happy to only lose that much going into the final day. "To lose a minute on Marlen is okay. She's the world champion," Longo-Borghini said. Longo-Borghini is now just 10" off the race lead with a huge mountain stage to come, which she relishes: "Really exciting, to be honest. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Reusser was expected to win her home race time trial. The world TT champion disappointed by her own standards at the Giro's hilly TT test, but here she was excellent with only Bäckstedt able to get anywhere near her at the finish. Her plan was to be aggressive and use the first half to get the majority of her gap on her rivals. "I was like dying after 1K and then I found the rhythm," Reusser said. "In the end it worked out, so I'm lucky, but I was having a hard time on the bike."
She added that she was struggling at the end and really wasn't sure how she would fare against her rivals. "I really was really on the limit," she said. "So I was like, let's see at the finish line."
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) came into the race along with Longo-Borghini and Reusser as the three major name leaders but she lost 1:46 to Reusser on the day after struggling in a discipline that does not suit her and in heat in the high 30s. "Not the terrain that I'm driving, but, it was really great to get the effort in because yeah, I very rarely do something like this." she said. "And of course, we have a time trailing the Tour. So, yeah, I mean, I felt Yeah, I was suffering. It was really hot." It's so easy to get into the red zone and then just say goodbye, ciao ciao."
Ten seconds into the mountains
Reusser starts stage 5 in yellow, but the final day to Villars-sur-Ollon, with roughly 3,000 metres of climbing, is built to overturn small GC margins. She described herself as on the limit in a discipline where she is strongest. On terrain that suits Longo-Borghini far better, 10 seconds could disappear quickly.
Longo-Borghini did not sound like a rider ready to accept the deficit passively. She diagnosed the problem as personal execution, and judged the result separately from the performance, sounding like a rider still expecting more from herself. She lost yellow on Saturday but left the impression she had not yet shown her best form in this race.
Other riders who made big gains in the time trial were Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike) both, like Reusser, jumped up four places in GC to third and fifth respectively with Steffi Häberlin (SD Worx-Protime) being the biggest loser among the top names dropping four places to eighth.
The top 10 in GC is split by four minutes, but first to eighth could all be in with a realistic chance in the big mountains on Sunday.
