Giro Rosa: Spratt wins stage 6 atop Gerola Alta, takes overall lead

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Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) won stage 6 at the Giro Rosa after taking control of the mountaintop finish at Gerola Alta. The Australian attacked from a select group of climbers about halfway up the 14-kilometre climb, winning solo with a gap of 29 seconds on a group of five where her teammate Annemiek van Vleuten beat Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Cervélo-Bigla) for second.

Spratt moved into the pink leader's jersey, 30 seconds ahead of stage 5 winner and overnight leader Ruth Winder (Sunweb) and 33 seconds ahead of Van Vleuten.

The stage started in Sovico near Monza, and the first 100km were almost totally flat. The peloton travelled through the Po plain and along the Lago di Como lakeshore to reach the Alpine valley of the Valtellina where the town of Delebio hosted an intermediate sprint. The 14-kilometre climb up the Val Gerola to the finish in the mountainside village of Gerola Alta started after Morbegno at 100km. The first kilometres were already very steep on a number of hairpins before the road flattened out a bit.

There were a few attacks in the beginning of the stage, but nobody got away from the peloton for more than a couple of kilometres. In the Valtellina, the teams of the general classification favourites went to the front to push the pace, Mitchelton-Scott, Boels Dolmans and WaowDeals being particularly active.

The peloton was reduced steadily on the steep first kilometres, but there were no attacks yet. With 8 kilometres to go, the front group was down to sixteen riders. Maglia rosa Winder was still hanging onto the group, but had to let go soon after.

Van Vleuten took a long turn at the front of the group on a steeper part, reducing the group to only five riders - apart from van Vleuten and Spratt, they were Moolman-Pasio, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), and Margarita Victoria García (Movistar Team).

When van Vleuten finished her pull with 5km to go, Spratt attacked from the back of the group and quickly got a gap on the others. The Australian put her head down and slowly, but steadily increased her advantage on the way to the finish.

Behind Spratt, a number of dropped riders managed to come back to the group by riding steadily at their own pace, and a group of ten riders reached the final kilometre together. Moolman, van Vleuten, Megan Guarnier (Boels Dolmans), Niewiadoma, García, Ane Santesteban (Alé Cipollini), Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb), Sabrina Stultiens (WaowDeals), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Cervélo-Bigla), and the Spanish champion Eider Merino (Movistar Team) had no chance to close the gap to Spratt though as the Australian rode to a solo victory.

The chasing group splintered on the final kilometres as every rider gave it their all on the last steep ramp to the finish line. Van Vleuten rounded off a great day for Mitchelton-Scott by sprinting to second 29 seconds behind her team mate, Ashleigh Moolman finished in third place two seconds later.

With the stage win, Spratt moved into the maglia rosa ahead of Thursday's 15-kilometre mountain time trial from Lanzada to Alpe Gera di Campo Moro.

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