Liane Lippert: "If I hadn’t crashed it might have been different"

The Tour de Suisse women stage 3 concluded on Monday . Liane Lippert managed to secure third place behind stage winner Elisa Balsamo and Évita Muzic.

“Then at that moment there was so much going on in the race and chaos in the bunch, and I touched a wheel and ended up on the ground. I got back up as quickly as I could and Léa helped close things a bit but we didn’t expect to get back. Then turning the last corner into the climb we made it back. Of course it’s hard to tell but I think if I hadn’t crashed it might have been different as the pace wasn’t super high so it was ideal for Balsamo. ," Lipper described.

"I think if I was there from the start then Floortje would have gone crazy hard to give us the best chance for me to go for it in the finish. It’s of course a bit disappointing because we really thought we could have won the stage but on the other hand we see that we’re all strong; and that gives us motivation to give it another try tomorrow. I hope to recover well from the crash as for now I’m feeling okay," she added. Lipper now sits in 15th place in the overall classification, and will have a final opportunity to strike tomorrow.