Giro Rosa: Stevens wins stage 6 summit finish to Madonna della Guardia

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Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) put in a major dig to win stage 6 at the Giro Rosa on the last summit finish in Alassio at the Sanctuary of Madonna della Guardia. The American made a late attack on the final climb and went clear alone to take the stage win ahead of teammate Megan Guarnier and defending champion Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv).

Also in the final lead group on the summit finish were former overall winners Claudia Lichtenberg (Lotto Soudal Ladies), who was fourth, and Mara Abbott (Wiggle High5) in fifth.

"That's a splendid sensation, I didn't expect to win two stages in such a race and I've done it in the two uphill finishes," said Stevens, who also won stage 2 in Montenars. "I am really happy, Megan [Guarnier] got the pink jersey and it's amazing. I dedicate this victory to our teammate Karol-Ann Canuel who did a splendid job." 

Abbott, a two-time winner of the race, was leading the overall classification at the start of the day after smashing the queen stage 5 that passed over the daunting Mortirolo. Though she put in a big effort to try and keep the jersey over the final two climbs of stage 6, she lost it to compatriot Guarnier after falling behind in the final sections of the climb to Madonna della Guardia.

There were time bonuses on the line of 10, 6 and 4. Guarnier gained enough time on Abbott, plus the six-second bonus for placing second on the day, to move back into the overall classification lead.

How it unfolded

Abbott started stage 6 in the overall lead, 10 seconds up on Guarnier and 15 seconds ahead of Italian favourite Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5).

Stage 6 was the beginning of another difficult stage. The 118.6km race was held from Andora to Alassio at the Madonna della Guardia. It included four climbs, and the last uphill finish of this edition of the Women’s WorldTour race.

The stage began in Laigueglia, climbing over the Passo del Ginestro (672 m - Category 2), Colle di Nava (938 m - Category 2) and Passo Caprauna (1,374 m - Category 1).

The peloton then descended to Cisano sul Neva and into the day’s intermediate sprint in Ceriale and Albenga at the 100km mark before embarking on the last climb.

There were several attacks from the lead group that emerged over the day’s ascents. But the most significant move of the day happened on the penultimate climb, the Passo Caprauna. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Rabo Liv) made an attack earlier and was already up the road, but Abbott drove the pace over the ascent, whittling down her rivals until she was left with Stevens.

The pair caught Niewiadoma and raced together over the top of the climb.

A minute back, a chase group tried desperately to close down the move that included Boels-Dolmans riders Guarnier (second overall), world champion Lizzie Armitstead and Karol-Ann Canuel, along with defending champion Anna van der Breggen, former overall winner Claudia Lichtenberg (Lotto Soudal Ladies), Alena Amialiusik (Canyon-Sram), Kseniya Tuhai (BePink) and Tatiana Guderzo (Hitec).

The lead trio held a 2:30 margin over the chasers at the 80km mark, and with only the closing climb still to go, the potential was there for this to be the winning move.

The day ended with an eight-kilometre climb to the finish at the Sanctuary Madonna della Guardia of Alassio. The climb was littered with hairpin turns and had an average grade of 8%.

The front groups ended up merging together include Abbott, Guarnier, Stevens, Canuel and Armitstead, van der Breggen and Niewiadoma, Lichtenberg, Amialiusik, Tuhai and Guderzo.

Abbott again pushed the pace on the climb until the lead group was down to seven riders with five kilometres to go: Armitstead, Stevens, Niewiadoma, van der Breggen, Guderzo and Lichtenberg. Niewiadoma started to show signs of struggle and dropped off the back of the group.

The American’s hold on the maglia rosa looked more promising as runner-up in GC Guarnier had lost time on the earlier slopes, and her teammate and third placed Longo Borghini was also no where to be seen. Next in line, behind Abbott in the overall was Lichtenberg at 33 seconds back and Guderzo at 38 seconds back, followed by Stevens at 1:22 back and van der Breggen at 2:10.

Abbott tried attacking several times until the group only included Stevens, van der Breggen, Guderzo and Lichtenberg.

But to everyone's surprise, Guarnier clawed her way back up to the lead group, which made the finish-line bonus seconds much more valuable at 10, 6 and 4.

Van der Breggen attacked, but it didn’t stick. Stevens counter attacked, which resulted in two major outcomes: her solo effort in pursuit of the stage win, while simultaneously dropping Abbott, who did so much work earlier on the climb, she struggled to stay in contention.

Stevens pushed on to gain almost 10 seconds in the last kilometre of the climb, and eventually crossed the line with the stage win at the Madonna della Guardia. Her teammate Guarnier held on for second place and Van der Breggen third.

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