Giro d'Italia Donne: Marianne Vos triumphs with 30th victory on stage 7

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Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo-Visma) has won the 30th Giro d'Italia Donne stage of her career at Puegnago del Garda.

On stage 7, held mainly on a hilly circuit around Puegnago del Garda, Vos followed the acceleration of Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) with one kilometre to go and left the Italian champion behind on the final 200 metres to win. 

Maglia rosa Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx) finished in third place, defending the overall race lead.

“It is an incredible number, but it is not really something I was thinking of. You know, every day is a new day in the Giro, and every day you have to be ready to focus, to fight and to get there," Vos said.

"My team is also inspirational, getting me in the right position and focussed to win again. It’s number two this Giro, the total is incredible,” Vos said after the stage.

How it unfolded

The stage was 110 kilometres long, and starting in Soprazzocco di Gavardo, the peloton reached the hilly finishing circuit 12 kilometres into the stage. Crossing the finish line for the first time after 24.2 km, the rider then did five laps around Puegnago del Garda before finishing 500 metres after a steady 1.5-kilometre, 4.8-percent climb.

The first attackers were Matilde Vitillo (BePink) and Riejanne Markus (Team Jumbo-Visma) who held an advantage of up to 1:30 minutes, but the duo was caught on the first full lap of the finishing circuit.

A few kilometres into the second lap, Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) took off alone, building a gap of 1:30 minutes and keeping this advantage for a long time. On the penultimate lap, 30 kilometres from the finish, Eugénie Duval (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) initiated a chase group of five that also included Sofia Bertizzolo (Liv Racing), Coryn Rivera (Team DSM), Alexis Ryan (Canyon-SRAM), and Leah Thomas (Movistar).

This group bridged up to Brand with 25km to go, but the peloton reeled the new front group in a few minutes later. After a short-lived move by Marta Jaskulska (Liv Racing), SD Worx led the peloton over the climb and into the final lap of 16.8 kilometres at a high pace.

There were many attacks on this final lap, but most of them were neutralised immediately and could not get away from the peloton. 

The most promising move came from Marta Bastianelli (Alé BTC Ljubljana), who attacked with just under ten kilometres to go and eked out an 11-second advantage. Jeanne Korevaar (Liv Racing) went on a solo chase but was quickly reeled in again, and Bastianelli herself was also caught inside six kilometres to go.

Trek-Segafredo, Ceratizit-WNT, Team DSM, and Canyon-SRAM, in particular, set up trains at the front of the reduced peloton and led the race into the final climb. 

Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) put in a fierce attack with 1.3 kilometres to go, and as Trek-Segafredo’s Ruth Winder had nothing left to respond, Longo Borghini had to chase down Cromwell herself.

This acceleration by the Italian champion was followed by Vos while Rivera was struggling to keep up. When Longo Borghini reached Cromwell just before the 1-kilometre mark, she counterattacked herself, again followed by Vos.

With Vos in her wheel and not taking any turns, Longo Borghini opened up a gap on the last part of the climb before the road flattened out somewhat with 500 metres to go, and finally Vos launched past the Italian champion to win her 30th Giro Donne stage with ease. Longo Borghini finished second just ahead of overall leader Van der Breggen in third place.