Giro d'Italia Donne: Van Vleuten beats Garcia in two-up sprint to win stage 4

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The first Giro d'Italia Donne stage on the Italian mainland was won by Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team). The 39-year-old superstar attacked with three others on the second classified climb of the day, 50km from the finish. 

Kristen Faulkner (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) and Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) couldn't follow the pace by Van Vleuten and Spanish champion Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ), leaving the two riders to fight for the stage win.

García attacked on a small rise with 700 metres to go, but Van Vleuten could get back on her wheel and easily went past the Spaniard to win the stage, even taking a second on García. Cavalli finished third 43 seconds behind the winner while the next group lost almost five minutes. With this victory, Van Vleuten also takes over the race lead.

“Last year, it was with pain in my heart that I wasn’t riding the Giro. I wanted to do my specific training in Livigno for the Olympic time trial, but it was hard to miss out last year, and I am happy to be back,” said Van Vleuten after the finish, clearly happy to take the maglia rosa in her favourite race.

"Also, I'm super happy to do this for the first time with my Movistar team, so it's a new challenge. The last times, I was always with my Australian team, and so it's a new challenge for us to do it together with my Spanish team Movistar. It's cool to be back."

How it unfolded

After the rest day necessary to travel from Sardinia to the Italian mainland, the race got underway again in the Romagna with a hilly 120.9-kilometre stage starting and finishing in Cesena. Three classified climbs and an uncategorised ascent that crested 9.3km from the finish line, combined with a hot 38 degrees, made for a hard stage.

Ceratizit-WNT were the most active team in the beginning, sending first Lara Vieceli and then the green mountain jersey Franziska Brauße on solo breakaways. Brauße won the intermediate sprint in Bertinoro after 35 km but was caught about halfway up the climb that followed. Évita Muzic took the maximum points at the top as the fight for the green jersey heated up.

After some regrouping the race hit the second-category Colle del Barbotto with just over 50km to go, and the peloton was reduced to only 23 riders when maglia rosa Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) lost contact.

Van Vleuten, García, Cavalli and Faulkner attacked before the top of the climb, and Faulkner lost contact just before García led the group over the top and into the descent. After the descent that was spiced up with several small counter-climbs, the remaining three frontrunners had extended their gap to a minute and a half over a group of ten riders that had reeled in Faulkner.

Although this group contained most of the top GC riders, they would not cooperate well, leaving only a few riders to chase, and the gap continued to grow to 4:51 minutes at the finish line.

Further ahead, García also took maximum points on the third classified climb, taking the lead in the mountain classification and winning herself the green jersey. On the final climb to Carpineta, the Spanish champion put in an attack that dropped Cavalli, leaving only Van Vleuten with García.

Although Cavalli came as close as eight seconds to the front duo, she never made it back and lost 43 seconds in the end. In Cesena, García tried to anticipate a sprint by attacking out of a roundabout with 700 metres to go and keeping the move going over a little rise just before the city gate, but Van Vleuten managed to pass her on the finishing straight to take the stage and the jersey.

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