Marianne Vos pulls out of Giro d’Italia Donne, turns attention to Olympic Games

Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) will not secure a 31st career stage win at the Giro d'Italia Donne after leaving the 10-day race ahead of the penultimate stage 9 start in Feletto Umberto. 

The Dutch rider secured her 29th and 30th stage wins in this edition earlier in the week and was leading the ciclamino points classification before pulling out of the race. She passes the points jersey to the next in line, Emma Norsgaard (Movistar).

"Marianne Vos and Julie Van de Velde [Belgium] both abandoned the Giro d’Italia Donne to focus on the Tokyo Olympic Games," Jumbo-Visma confirmed to Cyclingnews on Saturday.

"They both enjoyed a beautiful Giro d’Italia Donne with the double stage win of Marianne and two podium places. Therefore they left the race with a heavy heart. But at the same time, both riders want to prepare themselves as optimally as possible for the Olympics."

Vos will turn her attention to the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games where she will compete for the Netherlands in the women's road race on July 25. Vos was selected to her fourth Olympic Games alongside a powerful four-rider team that also includes defending Olympic Champion and double World Champion Anna van der Breggen, who will lead the team, Annemiek van Vleuten and Demi Vollering.

Vos won the gold medal in the Points Race on the track in 2008 Beijing and the gold medal in the road race in 2012 London, and competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, where Van der Breggen won the gold medal in the road race.

Cycling fans were watching for Vos to add another stage win to her record 30 in the stage 10 final to Cormons on Sunday. Earlier in the week, Vos won stage 3 in Ovada and stage 7 at Puegnago Del Garda, increasing her own record stage wins to a remarkable 30, all secured between 2007 and 2021.

"It's hard to put my feeling after yesterday's stage [7] in words," Vos wrote in a post on Instagram Friday.

"Very happy to be able to take the win after another very fast and hard race. It's never easy to get all the pieces fall into place... Thanks to my team for the continuous support.

"For me racing is not about numbers, but about doing what you love every day. The smiles here with fellow competitors say it all.

"Thanks Giro d'Italia Donne for the beautiful race and thanks to everybody for the nice messages."

One of those messages was from Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep), who on Friday, secured his 34th career stage victory at the Tour de France, equalling a long-standing record held by Eddy Merckx. In a post on Instagram, Cavendish acknowledged the Vos' milestone and called her "the absolute GOAT [greatest of all time]".

Upon the conclusion of stage 8 in Mortegliano, Vos was leading the ciclamino points classification with 56 points, ahead of runner-up Norsgaard's 43 points and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx) with 40 points. Norsgaard will wear the point classification jersey for stage 9 from Feletto-Umberto to the summit of Monte Matajur.