Giro Rosa: Marianne Vos wins stage 5 sprint into Terracina

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Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) artfully negotiated a tricky run into the line on stage 5 to take her second win of the 2020 Giro Rosa from a reduced bunch sprint in the coastal city of Terracina.

The victory on the 110-kilometre stage, ahead of Lotte Kopecky (Lotto Soudal Ladies) in second and Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) in third, was the Dutch riders’ 27th Giro Rosa stage win. It came after her team, CCC-Liv, worked hard on the front to thin out the group on the climbs and leave some of the sprinters behind.

For a while though, it looked like even the reduced bunch may have let its opportunity to contest the sprint slip away. Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) made a valiant attempt to trump those riders with an explosive turn of finishing speed by using the final climb to launch a solo break. While the gap never got too large Longo Borghini drew out the suspense, holding off the furious chase till the final kilometres.

Once she was caught it was up to the reduced bunch of about 50 to jostle for position ahead of a sharp corner about 300 metres before the line with Vos, of course, being the master of the challenging finish.

It wasn’t the first time Vos has won in Terracina as she also took victory in the city, which is about 50 kilometres south of Rome, back in 2012 as she headed toward the second of her three Giro Rosa victories.

“I had good memories already here and I have to say it was not an easy stage with the climb and we tried to make it hard,” said Vos. “My teammates did a really hard pace on the climb to split the field … and I am very happy to finish it off.”

Looking at the overall rankings, there was no threat to the strong lead of two-time defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) who rolled in safely in the lead bunch. New Zealander, Mikayla Harvey (Equipe Paule Ka), also held firm in the youth classification, retaining fifth on the GC.

How it unfolded

The 110.3-kilometre stage 5 of the nine-day Giro Rosa was flagged early as potentially a day for the opportunity starved sprinters, with a flat final 30 kilometres. However, that was only if they could  make it over the category 2 Madonna della Civita and category 3 Monte San Biagio without ceding too much time.

The return route to Terracina started out along the coast, treating the heat fatigued riders to calming water views and a coastal breeze, as they faced up to another warm day.

Once the flag had fallen there was no going easy on the flat early kilometres. The breakaway attempts started almost straight away, none staying away for long until Marketa Hajkova (BePink) and Malgorzata Jasinska (Cronos Casa Dorado) stretched out the gap beyond 40 seconds. 

However, the peloton reeled them back in on the 15-kilometre-long category 2 climb that marked the halfway point of the 110-kilometre stage. With CCC Liv driving the pace, the race split into two groups on the climb, with mountain classification leader Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) scooping up points at the top.

The gap between the groups was about 45 seconds, but with 45km still to go it seemed they had plenty of time to rejoin.  However, with the pace kept high on the CCC Liv led front group the gap continued to increase.

Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) then took advantage of the second ascent of the day, a shorter category 3 climb, taking off out to the front of the race alone in search of her first individual stage victory at the Giro Rosa. With 20 kilometres to go she had carved a small gap, but the chasers were hot on her.

By 10 kilometres to go the gap had inched up to 18 seconds though a fierce chase kept hunting her down second by second as she entered those final kilometres. Longo Borghini was caught within three kilometres of the line and then the reduced bunch was left to negotiate the final turns before contesting the sprint.

After her win, Vos moved up to the top of the points classification ahead of van Vleuten, while Uttrup Ludwig took more points in the mountains classification during the stage and extended her lead.

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s 97.5-kilometre stage from Torre del Greco to Nola there is a category 3 climb in Sarno at 31km into the race, followed by a slight but steady climb towards Monteforte Irpino. The peloton will then contest a downhill and flat to the finish.

Watch the Giro Rosa stage 5 highlights video below.

Visit Cyclingnews' dedicated women's page for full reports, results, news, features and galleries from the 2020 Giro Rosa.