DIJON, France -- Marlen Reusser of Switzerland seized the yellow jersey in the Women's Tour de France by clocking the fastest time in an individual time trial to win stage four on Tuesday.
Reusser, the world time trial champion, lived up to her billing as the stage favorite by completing the 21-kilometer course from Gevrey-Chambertin to Dijon in 27 minutes, 30 seconds -- 4 seconds faster than Lieke Nooijen and 18 quicker than Demi Vollering, the 2023 Tour champion.
"I'm super, super happy," said Movistar rider Reusser, who said everything had gone to plan. "We always said it was our 'Project Dijon.'"
Norwegian rider Sigrid Haugset, who had been wearing the yellow jersey after her long solo run to victory the day before, could only finish 3 minutes, 6 seconds behind Reusser, while defending Tour champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot finished more than two minutes behind the stage winner.
The 34-year-old Reusser, who also won stages in 2022 and 2023, leads the general classification by 14 seconds from Vollering, with Cédrine Kerbaol third, 54 seconds off the lead.
Haugset dropped to fourth, 56 seconds behind Reusser, while Ferrand-Prévot is 14th overall, more than 2 minutes off the pace.
This edition of the race, the fifth of the Women's Tour, covers 1,175 kilometers (730 miles) over nine days.
It next enters a new phase, with two demanding mid-mountain stages to come in Belleville-en-Beaujolais and Tournon-sur-Rhône before the anticipated mountaintop finish on Mont Ventoux.
