Van Vleuten wins 2022 Giro d'Italia Donne

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Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) won the 2022 Giro d'Italia Donne. The 39-year-old Dutchwoman finished safely within the peloton on the flat final stage to Padova to take her third overall victory in the Italian Grand Tour ahead of Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuruscope) and Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ).

Van Vleuten said that this overall victory tasted different than her two previous Giro wins: “It was with my new team, actually the first time for Movistar to target a big stage race, so it was all new for us. It’s more exciting, and after I had to leave the Giro in 2020 still in the maglia rosa with a broken wrist, it’s nice to finish it off again in pink. It’s not my favourite colour, but in the Giro it is. 

"There are so many Italian people shouting ‘maglia rosa, maglia rosa’, it’s really special to wear. It is a big honor for me to take it home again.”

The stage victory came down to the expected sprint when the breakaway was brought back 4.3 km from the finish. Rachele Barbieri (Liv Racing Xstra) launched her sprint early with Chiara Consonni (Valcar-Travel & Service) in her wheel, and Consonni came around in the end to win the stage. Emma Norsgaard (Movistar Team) finished third.

“I am very satisfied, I have tried to win a stage for the last two years but never succeeded. Now I had the right preparation, and I am very happy. I have no words, thank you to all the girls, my team, they did great work today,” said the overjoyed stage winner Consonni.

How it unfolded

The final stage from Abano Terme to Padova was relatively short at 90.5 kilometres and mostly flat, only going into the Colli Euganei for a third-category climb once and otherwise going around the hills.

Eva Maria Gatscher (Team Mendelspeck) was the first to attack but never got far away and was reeled in before the climb, where Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) took maximum points. She had worn the green mountain jersey for three days but lost it to Kristen Faulkner (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) on stage 9 when the US rider went on a long-range attack for the second day in a row, eventually winning the stage.

After the hills, white jersey Niamh Fisher-Black (Team SD Worx), Victoire Berteau (Cofidis), and Sara Poidevin (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) attacked. They were caught within a few minutes, leading to a counterattack by Krista Doebel-Hickok (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) and Alessia Vigilia (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) that was let go.

The front duo’s advantage never rose above 1:40 minutes as the sprinters’ teams didn’t want to miss out on the last opportunity to win a stage. Faulkner briefly attacked before the intermediate sprint to take the last remaining point in order to safeguard her third place in the points classification, then returned to the peloton.

Francesca Baroni (Aromitalia-Basso Bikes-Vaiano) and Latvian champion Anastasia Carbonari (Valcar-Travel & Service) went off the front of the peloton but never got close to the front group and were reeled in again. In the last 20 km, the peloton reduced the gap to under a minute, catching Vigilia and Doebel-Hickok 4.3km from the finish.

Although Team Jumbo-Visma and Trek-Segafredo tried to control the race on the run-in to the finish, other teams came to the front in the last two kilometres, and the sprint was a chaotic affair. 

Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service) went to the front 400 metres from the line in order to open a path for her teammate Consonni, and Norsgaard jumped onto Persico’s wheel. From the back, Barbieri launched her sprint with 200 metres to go, but Consonni passed her on the final 50 metres to win the stage.

On top of the maglia rosa, Van Vleuten also took home the cyclamen jersey for winning the points classification, and is the new leader of the Women’s WorldTour ranking. Fisher-Black won the white jersey for the best U23 rider while second-placed Cavalli was the best Italian rider and also helped her squad, FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope, take home the the team classification title.

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