Giro d'Italia Donne: Anna van der Breggen solos to stage 2 victory at Prato Nevoso

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Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx) has won stage 2 of the Giro d'Italia Donne. The world champion and overall winner of the 2020 edition attacked from a small group with just under eight kilometres to go on the finishing climb to Prato Nevoso and rode to the finish solo.

Behind Van der Breggen, her teammates Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio finished second, 1:22 minutes behind, and third as, 1:51 minutes down, Demi Vollering outsprinted Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) to complete the podium of a mountaintop finish that was totally dominated by SD Worx.

“It is an amazing result, but the climb was hard," Van der Breggen said. "There was a lot of suffering. We had one task today, and that was getting as much time as possible. The next stages are easier to control when you have more time, so we all tried the best."

SD Worx proved their dominance in the overall classification as Van der Breggen now leads the maglia rosa by over a minute as the race heads into stage 3's 135km from Casale Monferrato to Ovada.

How it unfolded

Stage 2 covered 99.3km from Boves to Prato Nevoso, finishing atop the 15-kilometre climb of the Colle del Prel. With this hard climb looming over the peloton, there was no real appetite to attack early. 

No breakaway was established until the category-three climb Colle del Morte where Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM), Kathrin Hammes (Ceratizit-WNT), Sofia Bertizzolo (Liv Racing), and Coryn Rivera (Team DSM) attacked over the top.

These four riders extended their advantage to 43 seconds with 22km to go, but when the climb started for real, they were quickly reeled in. Trek-Segafredo took charge on the lower slopes with maglia rosa Ruth Winder setting the pace.

Niamh Fisher-Black (Team SD Worx) attacked 10km from the line, prompting Erica Magnaldi (Ceratizit-WNT) to follow. They quickly had a 19-second advantage, but Moolman-Pasio’s steady pace brought the peloton back two kilometres later.

There were only about 15 riders left at the front; Winder had been dropped after her earlier work. Moolman-Pasio continued to ride, and Van der Breggen then accelerated even harder to go solo and extend her advantage with every pedal stroke.

Further behind, Moolman-Pasio was also riding alone, followed by a group of six riders including Vollering, Cavalli, Mavi García (Alé BTC Ljubljana), Magnaldi, Gaia Realini (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria), and Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange). The rest of the race was spread out over the climb.

The chase group of six also fell apart on the final kilometres. Vollering had been alone at first; Cavalli fought her way back but had no match for Vollering’s sprint in the end. 

Magnaldi finished in fourth place, 2:30 minutes down, followed by Realini another six seconds back. Seventh-placed García lost three minutes, Spratt in eighth place 3:05 minutes. Tatiana Guderzo (Alé BTC Ljubljana) and Juliette Labous (Team DSM) completed the top-ten.

Van der Breggen now leads the general classification by 1:26 minutes on Moolman-Pasio and 1:57 minutes on Vollering. In fourth place, Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) is the first rider not from Team SD Worx, already 3:31 minutes behind. Mavi García is fifth overall at 3:50 minutes.