Stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia Women was a day where most of the GC favourites could save their strength for the upcoming mountain stages where the battle for the maglia rosa will play out over the sawtooth-profile stage 6 to Chieti and the queen stage 7 finishing atop the climb to the Blockhaus above the Passo Lanciano.
The fifth stage ended in a sprint won by Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) and is now positioned only three seconds behind maglia rosa Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek). When asked about her closest rival on GC, Longo Borghini didn't seem too worried.
“For me, it was kind of an easy day. I could stay in the bunch and try to conserve as much energy as possible because I need the energy for the last three days. I did not even contest the sprint; it’s not my cup of tea. I was just trying to be there, stay safe, and I knew Kopecky was possibly winning this stage,” Longo Borghini said.
Longo Borghini will wear the maglia rosa for the fifth day in a row on stage 6, and the up-and-down parcours through the foothills of the Appennine Mountains is one that she has marked in her calendar for some time.
“I think tomorrow’s stage is a little bit the stage for rolling the dice. I’m really looking forward to the Chieti stage; it’s one of the ones that I like the most,” she said that the stage was going to be very important for the overall classification, possibly hinting at an aggressive tactic from her team.
Behind Longo Borghini and Kopecky, the time gaps are a bit bigger. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) is 38 seconds behind, Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) sits at 49 seconds, and Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) is two seconds behind the Frenchwoman. With three hard stages to come, the fight for the third podium spot is very close indeed, and none of them can even be discounted for a bid at the maglia rosa.
In sixth place overall, 1:06 minutes behind, Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) has been leading the U23 since stage 1. Her teammate Neve Bradbury is second at 56 seconds, followed by Lore De Schepper (AG Insurance-Soudal) at 1:26 minutes. However, the 21-year-old German isn’t content with just keeping the white jersey and wants to achieve a better overall placing.
“Stage 5 was quite relaxed, we just tried to save energy for the upcoming days, just stayed in the wheels. It was quite fast but quite relaxed. I am happy to keep the white jersey. Hopefully, I can take it home and move up to the GC. The upcoming days will get really, really hard, so let’s see what we can do there,” she said.
Stage 6 covers 159km from San Benedetto del Tronto to Chieti with nine climbs, only three of which – including the finishing climb – are classified. Stage 7 is 120km long, and after a hilly first half, riders face the 11.3-kilometre climb up the Passo Lanciano. After the descent, they climb it again, this time continuing to the Blockhaus, making for a 16.5km finishing climb that will decide the GC.
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