Giro Rosa: Bastianelli wins stage 9

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Marta Bastianelli (Alé Cipollini) sprinted to Italy's first Giro Rosa stage win on Saturday. The 30-year-old beat out out stage six winner Lotta Lepistö (Cervelo-Bigla) and Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-High5). The sprinters survived early climbs and clawed back a late race breakaway to contest the penultimate stage in Polla.

"We wanted to win and we did it today," said Bastianelli. "Chloe [Hosking] crashed at the beginning. Then Anna [Trevisi] was amazing in the breakaway. My teammates were perfect to help me launch my sprint. I couldn’t do any mistakes. Lotta beat me in Roseto, where I live, but today I was faster. It's great thanks to my team and my mates."

The paper profile for stage 9 offered up options a-plenty for the way Saturday's race might unfold. A sprint would be a likely outcome if any sprinters managed to survive the hilly first half, but a breakaway would like its chances following recent success of the escapes.

Climbing began from kilometre zero and so did the attrition. As Boels-Dolmans massed at the front in defence of Anna van der Breggen's maglia rosa, riders began to lose contact with the back.

The peloton had been halved by the time the race reached the second uncategorised ascent of the day. All the big name sprinters were reported as dropped.

50 kilometres into the stage, the first escape forced clear. The seven-strong group contained a mix of domestiques and rouleurs: Elena Cecchini (Canyon//SRAM), Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle-High5) Simona Frapporti (Hitec), Floortje Mackaij (Sunweb), Dani King (Cylance), Sofia Bertizzolo (Astana) and Ana Corvig (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo). With Cecchini best placed more than eight minutes down on Van der Breggen, the break offered no threat to the overall.

Seven kilometres later, it was gruppo compatto. Points and mountain classification leader Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) led the reduced peloton over the GPM. From here, the route was largely flat, potentially offering a chance for dropped riders to claw their way back to the front.

Anna Trevisi (Alé Cipollini), Malgorzata Jasinska (Cylance) and Lauren Kitchen (WM3) escaped the peloton's stronghold before the intermediate sprint, scooping up bonus seconds and points. The trio stretched their advantage out to one minute as the race headed toward the final 25-kilometres.

As the kilometres ticked down, the peloton closed in on the breakaway, eventually making the catch just beyond the three-kilometre mark. Bastianelli jumped out of the reduced bunch to calm the stage win – a first for her team and her country at the 2017 Giro Rosa.

With the top 10 on the general classification all finishing on the same time as Bastianelli, there are no significant changes to the overall heading into the final day of the race.

Boels-Domlans has been in pink since the opening stage team time trial. Van der Breggen took the maglia rosa from teammate Karol-Ann Canuel following stage 2. With 1:03 on Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) and 1:39 on Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott), the Olympic road champion surely likes her chances of adding a second Giro Rosa title to her palmares.

"If we are realistic, it will be really hard to make much time back," said Orica-Scott sport director Gene Bates. "Anna van der Breggen has a very strong team, and she's in great shape herself. It will be difficult, but we will certainly have a red hot crack at it."

The final day of racing at the Giro Rosa is a nine-lap 11.1-kilometre circuit race in Torre del Greco. The final lap deviates from the circuit and adds 13-kilometres, including an ascent up Mount Vesuvius.

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