Stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia Women looked like it would be almost certain to end in a mass sprint, but as things turned out, it reordered the GC as UAE Team ADQ and SD Worx-Protime caused a split in crosswinds with 53km to go and then kept going all-in to the finish.
In the end, the peloton finished 1:42 minutes behind a group of 16 riders that included maglia rosa Marlen Reusser (Movistar), Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), and Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility), who now occupy the first four spots in that order on GC.
“I was a bit afraid of this stage because it was expected to be a bunch sprint, and it was a very technical finale with narrow roads and a lot of corners. It's not what I like to do in life,” Reusser said afterwards.
"We were in that small group and could do a big team time trial, in a good way. Everybody was really working nicely together, that was super cool."
At the stage start, Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) had been sceptical about the possibility of echelons.
“I would absolutely love it if there was wind today, because we definitely enjoy crosswinds, but so far, it’s looking pretty quiet, and the peloton here is incredibly strong, so it might be difficult. If there’s a sniff of wind, we would love to take advantage of it. But it doesn’t look like it’s happening today,” said Chapman, licking her finger and holding it up in the air to check.
As it turned out, that sniff of wind actually was there, so UAE Team ADQ and SD Worx-Protime grasped the opportunity with both hands, each placing five riders in the front echelon.
With all GC contenders except the four in the front group losing time, the overall victory is now likely to be decided between Reusser and Longo Borghini who sits in second in GC, just 16 seconds behind.
Van der Breggen is in third place, 1:53 down, after losing time on the stage 4 summit finish. But Reusser was still hesitant to declare it a two-rider race.
“I guess it's mainly between Elisa and me, but as you could see today, you never know what happens. That’s the interesting thing in this sport, so I would never say it's one of us. The next days are going to be very exciting. And whoever wants to win has to attack me, and I like this situation,” she said.
One day after her stage 4 victory, Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) came down to earth. The minuscule climber dropped from third overall to fifth, 23 seconds off the provisional podium.
“We were hoping to hold on to third on GC today, but it was a really well-deserved ride from the women in that lead group. My team worked so hard today, still doing their best to minimise the time gap. It’s not what we wanted, but I can’t thank my team enough,” said Gigante.
Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) defended the white jersey for the best U23 rider but dropped to sixth overall.
“They made it quite a hard race, and unfortunately, we were a little bit out of position in this right corner. The bunch split, and we tried to come back, but SD Worx and UAE were pushing quite hard,” she explained.
Niedermaier was already looking ahead to the three challenging stages yet to come, hoping to take back time there.
“It's still a long way to go, and there are still opportunities where we can move up in the GC," the German said.
"It's always frustrating when you lose positions, but we have some stages to go, and they will be hard. I’m positive about that."
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