On another hilly stage of the Giro Donne, Annemiek van Vleuten further cemented her hold on the maglia rosa thanks to another solo victory on stage 7 into Alassio. Cyclingnews takes a look at the winners and the losers in the GC standings ahead of the rest day on Friday and the final two stages on Sardinia.
After seven stages and with two more to go at the weekend, Van Vleuten now holds a 3:56 lead over Juliette Labous of DSM-Firmenich, who has moved up to second after crossing the line 13 seconds behind the world champion in Alassio.
With the exception of Van Vleuten’s teammate, Liane Lippert, who climbed her way to fourth on the stage, and Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB), who finished in 11th place, the top 10 across the line on the stage comprised the top 10 riders in the GC standings.
Ewers, who sat in second place on GC going into stage 7, lost time on the Colle Paravenna, eventually finishing 11th on the stage alongside Liv Racing Teqfind’s Mavi Garcia.
Ewers has now dropped to fourth overall, 5:35 behind Van Vleuten while Garcia has also lost two places on GC, moving to seventh overall, 6:21.
Third on the stage, Gaia Realini of Lidl-Trek, picked up four bonus seconds and moved up from fourth to third overall at 4:25. Meanwhile, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig of FDJ-SUEZ, who lost almost three minutes on the queen stage on stage 5, moved up to sixth on GC at 6:16.
UAE Team ADQ retains two Italian riders in the top 10 who have both moved up one place on GC, with Erica Magnaldi in fifth at 5:37, and Silvia Persico, in ninth at 7:01.
After instigating the attack that drew out the group of favourites, Niamh Fisher-Black of SD Worx faded towards the top of the climb and finished eighth on the stage, 1:06 behind Van Vleuten. The New Zealander still managed to move up one place on GC, however, going into eighth overall at 6:58.
The biggest time loss on the day, however, was that of Team Jayco-AlUla’s Ane Santesteban who started the day in eighth overall at 5:36 but has now dropped to 10th overall at 9:12 back.
Going into tomorrow’s rest day the GC lead is firmly in Van Vleuten’s hands, however, the minor places have seen a great deal of movement throughout the race.
With the final two hilly stages on Sardinia ahead, they could change again before the race reaches its conclusion in Olbia on Sunday.
