Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region: Eleonora Gasparrini does it again with canny late attack

Eleonora Camilla Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ) claimed a second straight victory at the Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region on Sunday, triumphing with a canny late attack in the German one-day race.

The Italian, who won in a sprint last year, launched an opportunistic late attack from a select lead group inside the final couple of kilometres, and just about held on.

Cat Ferguson (Movistar), the 19-year-old British prodigy, came flying past on the line, but just the wrong side of it, leaving Gasparrini to celebrate.

Linda Riedmann (German National Team) clinched the final spot on the podium from what was a five-woman group sprinting it out behind Gasparrini. Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrpyto), and Letizia Borghesi (EF Education-Oatly) were the members of the group finishing just off the podium.

Lianne Lippert (Movistar), who had made a big attack a few kilometres previously, trailed slowly across the line in seventh after her teammate Ferguson had just been unable to sprint for the win.

Niewiadoma had taken the race on, going hard on the early climbs as she prepares for a tilt at the Road World Championships in Rwanda in a couple of weeks, and a selective race ensued. That made for a tactical battle in the closing kilometres, with attacks coming and going.

Gasparrini's move, as it turned out, was the decisive one, and with Ferguson coming at her so late on the line, perfectly timed.

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