Marta Lach takes Stage 3 win as Ashleigh Moolman Pasio holds off Annemiek van Vleuten to win Tour de Romandie Feminin

Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT) won Stage 3 of the Tour de Romandie Feminin in a photo finish from Tamara Dronova (Roland Cogeas Edelweiss), while Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (SD Worx) claimed overall victory.

Having won the mountainous Stage 2, Moolman Pasio was in pole position to win the three-stage race, and the South African finished safely in the bunch to hold off the challenges of Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek–Segafredo) after the flatter profile final stage – a 147km ride from Fribourg and Geneve.

The two-woman break of Ella Harris (Canyon-SRAM) and Quinty Ton (Liv Racing Xstra) managed to stay away for most of the day – with their advantage hitting six minutes at one point – but were hauled back in the final two kilometres of the race, setting up a bunch sprint, won by Lach.

The win was Lach’s first win at WorldTour level and followed hot on the heels of Moolman Pasio’s first WorldTour level win on Stage 2; that result meant she came into Stage 3 leading the overall classification by 30 seconds, with Van Vleuten poised to further burnish her palmares should Moolman Pasio slip up.

It was Van Vleuten’s Movistar team that did the majority of the work to bring the escapees of Harris and Ton to heel, with the Spanish team looking to bring Arlenis Sierra (Movistar) to the fore after her win on Stage 1.

The breakaway was swept up with 2km to go and Sierra was ferried to the front of the bunch first by Van Vleuten, whose GC hopes had gone, and then Jelena Eric. However, she would have to settle for third after getting boxed in with Lach beating Dronova to the line.

Van Vleuten and Longo Borghini started the day 30 and 49 seconds in arrears of Moolman Pasio and came across the line in the bunch alongside the South African meaning a day after picking up a first stage at WorldTour level, she won a first WorldTour race.

“It’s really just so special. It’s been 13 years, my career, and this is really the first time that I have won a WorldTour race,” she said at the finish.

“Yesterday the Queen stage victory and today the overall victory, it’s really a special way to finish off the year and also my time with SD Worx. My team-mates were incredible today, super strong, and I’m very happy.”