Dutchwoman wins from small group sprint on stage 6 as Van Vleuten defends overall lead
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Vos celebrates her 32nd Giro stage win(Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)
Vos punches the air(Image credit: Getty Images)
Vos wins the sprint(Image credit: Getty Images)
It was decided in a small group sprint(Image credit: Getty Images)
Vos beats Kopecky to the line(Image credit: Getty Images)
Vos celebrates(Image credit: Getty Images)
The crowds out in force(Image credit: Getty Images)
Longo Borghini attacks on the Bergamo Alta climb(Image credit: Getty Images)
Race leader Annemiek van Vleuten(Image credit: Getty Images)
The peloton in the hills around Bergamo(Image credit: Getty Images)
Longo Borghini rips it up on Bergamo Alta(Image credit: Getty Images)
Vos follows Longo Borghini(Image credit: Getty Images)
The podium finishers(Image credit: Getty Images)
More Giro spumante for Vos(Image credit: Getty Images)
Second place for Kopecky(Image credit: Getty Images)
Another day in the pink jersey for Van Vleuten(Image credit: Getty Images)
Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo-Visma) added another Giro d'Italia Donne stage win to her impressive collection by winning the sprint from a group of 11 on stage 6.
Beating Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) and Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service) to the line, Vos took the 32nd Giro Donne stage win of her career.
The last attacker was caught on the climb to Bergamo Alta, and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) put in an attack on the steepest part that only Vos could follow.
Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ) joined the two over the top and kept the move going into the descent as maglia rosa Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) had been impeded by a crash and lost contact with the best.
On the descent to the finish, Van Vleuten picked up riders and led a group of eight in a furious chase, catching the front trio just before the flamme rouge. In the final kilometre, Vos shut down a move by Kristen Faulkner (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), then launched her own sprint to avoid becoming boxed in – and won.
“I’m still catching my breath,” said Vos after the finish. “It was all the time trying to stay in front before the climb on the local lap, and then it was already a sprint before we hit the last climb, another sprint up the climb, and then another sprint here to the line. It was quite hard, but it’s very nice to take the victory.
"The team had a lot of confidence and trust in me, then you really want to finish it off. You can’t expect to take two victories in the Giro Donne, and the pressure was off after the first one, but there’s always a next chance, and you want to go for that. I am very happy that it worked out."
How it unfolded
The stage started in Sarnico, hometown of Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo), who was presented with a cake at the sign-in ceremony. After a neutral section, riders would do five laps of a circuit with the third-category San Pantaleone climb before heading to Bergamo, where the climb through the old city threw up a final difficulty before the finish after 114.7 km.
There were several attempts to get away on the circuit, but none of them lasted long, and Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) won the first four mountain sprints, putting her in the lead in the mountain classification.
Alessia Vigilia (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) attacked on the fifth lap and had a lead of more than a minute on the peloton, with Markéta Hájková (BePink) and Eukene Larrarte (Bizkaia Durango) chasing in between, but they were all caught on the San Pantaleone climb. Van Vleuten led the peloton over the top, and the fast descent opened gaps in the peloton. Juliette Labous (Team DSM) attacked once the race was on the flat again, and Faulkner, Anouska Koster (Team Jumbo-Visma), and Niamh Fisher-Black (Team SD Worx) followed her.
This group was caught just before the intermediate sprint where Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) cleverly took three bonus seconds. In the calm before the final climb, Victoire Berteau (Cofidis) was next to attack and continuously increased her lead on the peloton where Giorgia Bariani (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) as well as Catalina Soto (Bizkaia Durango) and Beatrice Rossato (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria) went on the chase.
Berteau was 1:03 minutes ahead with 12 km to go but faltered quickly once she was on the climb to Bergamo Alta and was caught just before the medieval city gate 4km from the finish.
Just as Berteau was reeled in, Chabbey crashed at the start of the cobbled section, forcing Van Vleuten to click out with her left foot to steady herself, then get going again.
Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) led the race into the steepest part of the climb where her teammate Longo Borghini launched a ferocious attack that only Vos could follow and Niamh Fisher-Black (Team SD Worx) had to leave a gap. García bridged to the front over the top and immediately went to the front in order to gain time in the general classification.
Behind this group, Van Vleuten was chasing hard to defend her maglia rosa, picking up Faulkner, Kopecky, Persico, Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Marta Cavalli (both FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope), and Fisher-Black on the descent and closing the gap with one kilometre to go.
Faulkner’s attack on the final kilometre was shut down by Vos, who then sprinted from Faulkner’s wheel and won her 32nd Giro stage with ease. She also took the lead in the points classification.
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.
