Van Vleuten gives Movistar teammates carte blanche to go for Giro Donne stages

Until now, Floortje Mackaij (Movistar Team) was mainly seen in a supporting role at the Giro d’Italia Donne, taking turns at the front of the peloton to protect the maglia rosa of her team’s leader Annemiek van Vleuten. 

On stage 8, however, the Mackaij and several of her teammates went on the attack: Van Vleuten’s GC lead was so secure that she and the team gave the other riders carte blanche to go for glory themselves in the remaining stages on Sardinia.

“It’s really nice to race in a team with the GC leader. The team was really making it clear to us that we can have our own opportunity, go for a break or go for the stage," Mackaij explained the plan for the day.

That’s really nice after working hard last week. We knew that there was also a great finish for Liane. It was really hard, and after a rest day, there are always some surprises. At the moment I feel that I’m actually getting better through the week."

Sara Martín and Paula Patiño were first to attack, but the groups they joined were quickly reeled in again. Then Mackaij saw her opportunity and broke away with Silvia Magri (Israel-Premier Tech Roland). 

They built a one-minute gap, and Mackaij left the Italian behind on the day’s only classified climb. But she did not push on and was caught with 25km to go, joining another short-lived move a little while later.

“I knew it was a really long ride to the finish to go solo all the way. And when the bunch is only one minute, they can play a little bit with you, so I was just pacing it, enjoying the ride, actually. When they caught me, I felt really strong and could join the attacks later. I knew it was only on big roads and rolling towards the finish, so then I could do my job later for Liane who is punchy on a finish like this,” said Mackaij.

In the final, Mackaij did her part to set up German champion Liane Lippert, who sprinted to third place on an uphill finish into Sassari, giving the team a good result from another hot day where temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius.

“Normally I am struggling a lot with the heat, but I’ve been in Italy for two weeks now and am really used to it, so today was actually fine for me,” Mackaij said.

On Sunday’s final stage 9, the highest priority for the Movistar Team is to get Van Vleuten safely to the finish in the maglia rosa – but if the opportunity presents itself, the team may go for an attack again.

“I think the pink jersey is pretty safe at the moment. Of course, everything needs to be in the right direction, but we are here with a really strong team, and it’s nice to have your own opportunity. But the main goal is to win with Annemiek and to finish it off in pink,” finished Mackaij.