Abbott rides into overall lead

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Mara Abbot (US National Team) soloed to victory in stage eight of the Giro Donne and moved into the overall lead entering the final weekend of racing. The US national road champion bested Emma Pooley (Cervelo TestTeam) by 1:27, while former world road champion Judith Arndt (HTC Columbia) outsprinted reigning world road champion Tatiana Guderzo (Team Valdarno) for third place honours 13 seconds later.

Abbott attacked the peloton on the first of three classified climbs, the category 2 Passo del Maloja, and only Pooley was able to respond to the 24-year-old American's surge. The pair began the day's second climb together, but Abbott dropped Pooley prior to the Passo Bernina summit. Abbott  continued solo to the day's final climb, the category 2 Forcola, and steadily increased her lead over Pooley through to the finish line.

With her dominating performance, Abbott, the 2009 Giro Donne runner-up, vaulted from sixth overall into the leader's maglia rosa. Overnight leader Marianne Vos (Netherlands National Team) finished 3:22 behind Abbott and dropped to fourth overall at 1:38. Arndt remains second on general classification, 19 seconds behind Abbott, while Guderzo retained her third place overall, 1:05 back.

The peloton faces one more difficult day in the mountains on Saturday, with the 68.5km stage finishing atop the Passo dello Stelvio, the second-highest paved road in Europe at 2,757m. The Giro Donne finishes on Sunday with a 112.7km stage into Monza.