Dutchwoman overcomes late crash on final descent to extend overall lead
Image 1 of 25
Stage 8 podium at the Giro Donne: Marta Cavalli (2nd), Annemiek van Vleuten (1st) and Elisa Longo Borghini (3rd)(Image credit: Getty Images)
Kristabel Doebel Hickok stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Marta Cavalli, Mavi Garcia on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Brodie Chapman on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten wins stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten and Kristen Faulkner on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Niamh Fisher-Black on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mavi Garcia on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten extends lead in GC on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Elisa Longo Borghini on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Niamh Fisher-Black on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten extends GC lead winning on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Marta Cavalli and Annemiek van Vleuten fist bump after stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Marta Cavalli top Italian rider on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten wins on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten celebrates winning on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Marta Cavalli second on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Kristen Faulkner (Image credit: Getty Images)
Marta Cavalli surrounded by team staff and press on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Kristen Faulkner after a monster effort to finish 4th on stage 8 at the Giro Donne(Image credit: Getty Images)
Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) took complete control of the Giro d'Italia Donne on Friday, winning her second stage of the 2022 edition and extending her overall lead to more than two minutes.
On the 104.7-kilometre stage from Rovereto to Aldeno, which featured two long climbs, Van Vleuten attacked early on the 9.3-kilometre ascent to Lago di Cei, and again only Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) and Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ) could follow.
Van Vleuten soon dropped both and bridged to solo escapee Kristen Faulkner (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), who had attacked earlier on the Passo Bordala.
Cavalli dropped García soon afterwards and kept the gap to Van Vleuten small for most of the climb, passing Faulkner 4km from the top of the climb when the latter couldn't follow the GC leader anymore.
Van Vleuten went into the final descent 37 seconds ahead of Cavalli and increased her lead further. She overshot a corner with 5km to go but was quickly back on her bike and could celebrate the stage victory, finishing 59 seconds ahead of Cavalli.
Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), who had caught Faulkner on the descent, finished third.
In the overall standings, Cavalli leapfrogged Garcia into second place, but she's now 2:13 off the lead of Van Vleuten, who's in the driving seat to seal the title on Sunday.
"I wanted to make more of a difference today," Van Vleuten said. I had a good lead-out from my teammate Jelena [Erić], then I went. It was quite tough to drop them, but I knew that if I continue, my endurance and my hours of training will help me.
"In the final kilometres, the gap on Cavalli became bigger, but I made a stupid, unnecessary mistake in the descent – sorry mum – but nothing happened. We made the maglia rosa more certain."
How it unfolded
Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), sixth in GC overnight, was a non-starter on stage 8 as she had contracted COVID-19.
No breakaway was let go until the 14.7-kilometre climb to the Passo Bordala where Krista Doebel-Hickok (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) went on the attack. The US rider was quickly caught again by a group of 30 riders where Van Vleuten set the pace, and Brodie Chapman (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) was the next to make a move.
Faulkner then bridged to Chapman and dropped the Australian six kilometres from the top while Clara Koppenburg (Cofidis), Anouska Koster (Team Jumbo-Visma), and Gaia Realini (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria) also went on the chase.
García attacked from the group of favourites with three kilometres left to climb. Only Van Vleuten could follow her acceleration, but Cavalli, white jersey Niamh Fisher-Black (Team SD Worx), and stage 7 winner Juliette Labous (Team DSM) eventually closed the gap, and the move was neutralised.
Faulkner crested the climb 18 seconds ahead of Koppenburg and 48 seconds ahead of Chapman, with the favourites’ group being over two minutes behind. Koppenburg crashed out of the race on the technical descent, and the group of favourites also fell apart as García struggled to keep up with the others. Chapman dropped back to the first group to extend the gap on García, but the Spanish champion eventually returned to the group with Van Vleuten and Cavalli before there was yet another split.
Crossing the finish line with 31.8km to go, Faulkner was 1:25 minutes ahead of Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo), Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service), Longo Borghini, Labous, Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM), and Fisher-Black. Chapman was leading a group with Cavalli, Van Vleuten, García, and Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) across the line another 22 seconds back, with FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope teammates Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Évita Muzic and other riders joining Van Vleuten’s group soon after.
It took a long effort from Chapman and Muzic to close the gap to Longo Borghini’s group on the flat between the climbs until the two groups merged and a group of 19 riders started the Lago di Cei climb together, 1:34 minutes behind Faulkner.
Erić went to the front and emptied herself in the service of Van Vleuten. When the Serbian champion swung off, only Cavalli, García, and Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM) were still in the maglia rosa’s wheel, and the young Australian lost contact right away when Van Vleuten accelerated further 20km from the finish.
Closing the gap to the front at an astonishing rate, Van Vleuten dropped her companions and picked up Faulkner only 1.6km after her attack. Cavalli stayed only a few seconds behind Van Vleuten for most of the climb before the gap went out on the final kilometre of climbing. Further behind, Longo Borghini went on the chase alone and reached García before leaving the Spaniard behind about three kilometres from the top of the climb, catching Faulkner on the descent.
Van Vleuten went into a corner with too much speed 5km from the finish and crashed but quickly got going again, winning the stage 59 seconds ahead of Cavalli. Longo Borghini dropped Faulkner on the finishing straight to finish third at 1:38 minutes, also taking four bonus seconds. García finished in a small group at 3:01 minutes, relinquishing the second place overall to Cavalli and losing 1:27 minutes to fourth-placed Longo Borghini, but the Spaniard takes an advantage of 3:21 minutes on fourth place into the final mountain stage.
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.
