Giro Rosa: Winder wins stage 5, takes pink jersey

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Ruth Winder (Team Sunweb) gave herself a special present one day after her 25th birthday, winning stage 5 of the Giro Rosa ahead of Tayler Wiles (Trek-Drops) and Alice Maria Arzuffi (Bizkaia Durango-Euskadi Murias). The three riders had attacked from a peloton of less than forty riders shortly after the category 2 climb that crested 32km from the finish. Winder also moves into the overall lead, taking over the maglia rosa from her teammate Leah Kirchmann.

The 122.6-kilometre stage started in Omegna and included a circuit around the Lago d'Orta before going up and down the Val d'Ossola. In the final 40km, a short stretch along the Lago Maggiore was followed by the six-kilometre, seven-percent average climb to Someraro, a rolling descent and finally a flat 11-kilometre run along the Lago d'Orta back to Omegna for the finish.

A strong break of twelve riders got away in the first ten kilometres and over time built an advantage of 1:26 minutes. The break included Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans), Elena Cecchini (Canyon-SRAM), Clara Koppenburg (Cervélo-Bigla), Eugénie Duval (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope), Sarah Roy (Mitchelton-Scott), Liane Lippert (Team Sunweb), Barbara Guarischi (Team Virtu Cycling), Danielle Rowe (WaowDeals), Emilia Fahlin (Wiggle High5), Chiara Consonni, Silvia Persico, and Maria Giulia Confalonieri (all Valcar PBM) who stayed in front for a long time, but struggled when going down the Ossola valley into a headwind which meant they were caught by the peloton after 71 kilometres, just before reaching the shores of the Lago Maggiore.

There were no attacks before the six-kilometre climb to Someraro where the climbers set a high pace that whittled the peloton down to under 40 riders at the top. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) was first at the mountain sprint followed by Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5) and Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott). The Italian was especially motivated as the stage passed through her hometown and managed to defend both the lead in the mountain classification as well as her position as best-placed Italian.

Three riders broke free in the rolling terrain after the mountain sprint. Arzuffi, Wiles, and Winder had a 50-second lead on a peloton of thirty riders with 20km to go. Niewiadoma, Longo Borghini, and Spratt counterattacked on the descent and were joined by three other riders, but this chase group was caught at the ten-kilometre mark.

On the flat, the escapees even extended their gap to 1:26 minutes with 5km to go, meaning that they were almost certain to contest the stage between themselves. Arzuffi tried to go solo, but was brought back again by the other two. Winder was the strongest in the sprint and easily won the stage, even getting a one-second gap on Wiles and Arzuffi.

Marianne Vos (WaowDeals) led the peloton home 1:17 minutes later - this meant that, in addition to the stage win, Winder also moved into the overall lead, taking the maglia rosa off her team mate Leah Kirchmann.

The Giro Rosa continues on Wednesday with stage 6 that ends on a category 2 mountaintop finish at Gerola Alta after a 114.1-kilometre stage from Sovico.

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