Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) won the Giro d'Italia Women, attacking on the last climb of the race, dropping Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) and bridging to a front group consisting of Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM), Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek).
Niedermaier had attacked with 80km to go, with Longo Borghini and Fisher-Black bridging to her soon after. The German climber held the virtual maglia rosa until Vollering attacked on the Colletta di Brondello, leaving Van der Breggen behind and reaching the front group 28km from the finish.
Van der Breggen was over a minute behind at that point, now putting Vollering into the virtual GC lead, and the FDJ United-SUEZ rider did most of the work on the run-in to the finish in Saluzzo to confirm her GC victory.
“It feels so surreal. We made a plan yesterday evening, and the girls were on fire from the start. They tried to be in the breakaway, that didn’t happen, but then they put a pace on the long first climb. Lauren [Dickson] was amazing today, she kept going. We made it over the top with a small group,” Vollering said after the stage, describing how her team set up the winning attack.
“Today was all about daring to lose. I let Antonia go away, and I told Anna, ‘I’m fine, second or third doesn’t matter to me, it’s up to you now’. And then I had to try to drop her somewhere, and I really went all-in on that last climb. It was still so long to the finish, but I did it, and I still can’t believe it."
She quickly gained the necessary 50 seconds on Van der Breggen to move into the virtual lead, but Vollering was on her last legs across the ninth day of racing.
“I only dared to dream of [the maglia rosa] when I had two minutes. I also had cramps everywhere in my legs, so with 20km to go, I was like ‘I hope I make it to the finish line’. The group I was in was working really well together, and it was quite a fast terrain, and then I was flying. As soon as I had the gap on Anna, I was like, ‘now I really need to give it everything I have’,” said Vollering.
With her GC win, Vollering becomes only the second women after Annemiek van Vleuten to win all three Grand Tours - the Tour de France Femmes, Vuelta Femenina, and Giro d’Italia Women.
Elisa Longo Borghini of UAE Team ADQ celebrates the stage 9 victory in Saluzzo (Image credit: Getty Images)
Vollering did not contest the sprint where Fisher-Black went long but was passed by Longo Borghini who took the stage victory in the Italian champion's jersey.
"I’ve been very sick the past three months and I worked very hard to come back, I’m not still 100% but I didn’t want to leave this Giro without leaving a mark, and today in the bus I felt this anger coming inside me, and I was like, ‘I have nothing to lose’," Longo Borghini said at the finish.
"I don’t care about the GC, I just want to go and want to do it for my team mates that are simply amazing and I just wanted to win."
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Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
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