Having finished stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia Women in eighth place, with the first seven places all taken by the breakaway, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) once again stepped onto the podium to receive the maglia rosa for the overall leader.
As the Italian Champion maintains a hold on the general classification, the race for the podium behind her is beginning to heat up.
Longo Borghini and her team had to work hard to defend the maglia rosa, reducing a dangerous gap to Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez), who was the virtual leader for a while in the group chasing the breakaway on stage 4 won by Clara Emond (EF-Oatly-Cannondale).
From the peloton, Longo Borghini then followed an attack by runner-up on GC Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) on the finishing climb into Urbino. She outsprinted the World Champion, putting down a marker that she is in this Giro to win it.
“I felt very good today. There was a breakaway going at the beginning, and then another big group going after the San Marino climb where we had Brodie [Chapman]. But we stopped her because we wanted her to control. We knew Uttrup Ludwig was in contention for the maglia rosa, and we wanted to just have it under control," Longo Borghini said.
"We knew Kopecky was the main rival for the day, so we didn’t want her to get time gaps, but I also managed to beat her in the sprint. It was a good day overall.”
Kopecky had said before the Giro that she was focusing more on stage victories than on the general classification, but the stage did not develop the way she had hoped.
“It was a hot day, and it was a pretty big group out, so I knew it was hard to go for a stage win. But it was a nice final climb in the end, and I just gave it a go,” she said.
Kopecky was successful inasmuch as Longo Borghini was the only rider able to hold her wheel – but she couldn't gain any time on the maglia rosa and remains 13 seconds behind in GC.
Uttrup Ludwig gained the most on the 134km stage from Imola to Urbino, riding into the day's main chase group and, at one point, was in the virtual maglia rosa during the stage.
She joined a group of 15 that had gone clear on the San Marino climb and was two minutes ahead of the peloton for a while. With Lidl-Trek's Brodie Chapman called back to help in the chase, this gap was reduced to under a minute at the finish, but Uttrup Ludwig still moved up six spots in the GC and is now in third overall at 38 seconds.
Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) also made a big jump in the GC, moving from 11th to fifth overall. The Mauritian rider is now only 51 seconds behind Longo Borghini, and the manner in which she achieved her time gain was very impressive, using the help of her teammate Justine Ghekiere to bridge a two-minute gap from the peloton to the chase group behind the eventual stage winner Emond.
“Our plan was for Justine to be at the front on the first climb to take points for the mountain jersey, and she did that. Then she had to wait for Kim, who was supposed to attack on the second climb," Le Court’s sport director Jolien D’hoore explained a team strategy that played out perfectly.
"Kim joined Justine, and from that moment, they had only one goal: to gain seconds in the general classification. They executed it perfectly. It was truly a team effort today; everyone played their part.”
Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) lost four seconds to Longo Borghini and Kopecky on the finishing climb. However, the French climber was given a 20-second time penalty for having taken a bottle from her team car late on stage 3.
Labous has now slipped one spot in the GC from third to fourth, putting her 49 seconds down on Longo Borghini as the race heads into stage 5 on Thursday.
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