Giro d'Italia Donne: Lorena Wiebes wins stage 8

Image 1 of 18

Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) has won stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia Donne. The stage came down to a mass sprint after a breakaway of three riders was reeled in with just over six kilometres to go, and after a lead-out by teammate Coryn Rivera, Wiebes was faster than everyone else. Emma Norsgaard (Movistar Team) finished second, Maria Vittoria Sperotto (A.R. Monex) rounded out the podium.

“It was a really fast stage today and a messy sprint. But Coryn came at the perfect moment to bring me up to speed, and I could go all-out to the finish,” Wiebes recounted the final.

Wiebes now has two stage victories from her first participation in the Giro Donne, with a final opportunity for a sprint coming up on stage 10. Asked about replicating Vos’ 30 stage wins, Wiebes laughed and remained noncommittal.

“What Marianne did is amazing. I hope I can also go for the 30, but it is a really long way. We will see,” the stage winner finished.

Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx) continues to lead the race ahead of her teammates Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and Demi Vollering ahead of Saturday's mountain stage 9 finishing on the Monte Matajur.

How it unfolded

It was a diminished peloton that started the 130-kilometre stage in San Vendemiano as Bizkaia-Durango and Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank withdrew from the race after Covid-19 positives. 

Having crashed on the stage 1 TTT, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) also opted not to start stage 8 and instead get more recovery days in before the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

There were many attacks in the first third of the stage, but the peloton did not let any of them go. Only after the intermediate sprint in San Vito al Tagliamento 52 kilometres into the stage did Anastasia Carbonara (Born To Win G20 Ambedo) get away, and a few minutes later her teammate Natalya Studenikina and Giorgia Vettorello (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) went after Carbonara.

When the three riders joined up, they worked well together and built an advantage that maxed out at 3:15 minutes with 50 kilometres to go. In the peloton, Team DSM and Movistar Team shared the work and gradually brought the gap down to 1:33 minutes when the peloton crossed the finish line in Mortegliano with 21.8 km to go.

Team Jumbo-Visma of Thursday’s stage winner Marianne Vos and Valcar-Travel & Service of Ilaria Sanguineti also helped the chase on this final lap, and the three escapees were caught 6km from the finish.

Movistar’s Leah Thomas did a long turn at the front of the peloton in the final kilometres, but when she swung off just before the flamme rouge, the team’s train drifted backwards again before Aude Biannic took over with 800 metres to go. 

Wiebes and Rivera were positioned on Norsgaard’s wheel, and Rivera accelerated out of the final turn with 500 metres to go with Wiebes tucked in behind her, leading out the Dutch sprinter for another Giro Donne stage victory.