European champion Marianne Vos (WaowDeals) took stage 8 of the Giro Rosa on Friday, winning the sprint from a three-rider group that got away in the technical descent after the final climb of the day. Vos, Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5) cooperated well and finished 23 seconds ahead of a group of about 20 riders.

Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) continues to lead the general classification ahead of teammate Amanda Spratt. Brand leapfrogged Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Cervélo-Bigla) and now sits second overall ahead of Saturday's decisive stage to Monte Zoncolan.

How it happened

There were two intermediate sprints as well as two climbs [one of which was raced twice] on the 126.2 km around Breganze. Despite the hot and humid conditions, the stage started fast, and Lucinda Brand won the first intermediate sprint after some 11 kilometres to take three bonus seconds in her fight for an overall podium place.

The peloton split up on the first climb outside Marostica as more than half the peloton was dropped as a result of the high pace on the ascent and the technical downhill that followed. The gaps between the groups only became larger on the nine-kilometre flat before the second ascent, and more riders were dropped on the climb where Elisa Longo Borghini took full points in her attempt to win back the mountain jersey.

Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans) attacked from the first peloton after 48 km, but did not get anywhere. Next to attack were Malgorzata Jasinska (Movistar Team) and Anna Plichta (Boels Dolmans), then Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Canyon-SRAM) and shortly afterwards French champion Aude Biannic (Movistar Team) - but none of them were let go by the peloton that stayed together until the last climb that crested inside the final ten kilometres.

Brand was sandwiched by two Cervélo-Bigla riders in the second intermediate sprint as Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and Lotta Lepistö took first and second. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) was the third Polish rider to make a move on the day, attacking just before the start of the final climb to San Giorgio di Perlena, but she was quickly brought back. On the climb, Sabrina Stultiens (WaowDeals) rode a high pace at the front to tire out the sprinters, then Longo Borghini went for the mountain points and was followed by Vos. Brand caught up in the descent, and the three riders went to the finish line together.

In Breganze, Vos was the strongest in the sprint, with Longo Borghini finishing second and Brand third. 23 seconds later, Giorgia Bronzini (Cylance Pro Cycling) led home a group of 27 riders were only the Italian riders sprinted for the minor placings, leading to a mostly Italian stage top-ten.

Due to the nine bonus seconds from the finish and the intermediate sprints as well as this time gap, Brand moved up to second overall where she is now 2:29 minutes behind maglia rosa Annemiek van Vleuten heading into the decisive mountain stage finishing atop the Monte Zoncolan.

Full Results