Longo Borghini on the Attack
The stage was animated by an early breakaway of five riders: Chantal Pegolo (Isolmant–Premac–Vittoria), Marjolein van ‘t Geloof (Laboral Kutxa–Fundación Euskadi), Alison Jackson (St Michel–Preference Home–Auber93), Sara Luccon (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) and Gaia Segato (Vini Fantini–BePink). Several other riders attempted to bridge across later in the stage, but none managed to make the junction.
The peloton allowed the breakaway riders to build an advantage of as much as nine minutes, but its calm was brutally interrupted by a massive crash with 52 kilometres to go. Around thirty riders were caught up in the incident, including Maglia Rosa Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx–Protime), Antonia Niedermaier (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto) and Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco). Fortunately, the crash appeared to have no serious consequences, with all those involved able to continue.
On the climb to Pietragavina, only Gaia Segato, Alison Jackson and Chantal Pegolo remained out front, while the peloton stayed relatively quiet. The real action, however, came on the descent. Silvia Persico attacked together with Célia Gery, and the pair bridged across to the three surviving escapees, who still held an advantage of around twenty seconds. Soon afterwards, Lucinda Brand and Elisa Longo Borghini stormed across to the quintet. At that point, Persico buried herself on the front, driving the pace relentlessly in an attempt to help her team leader gain as much time as possible in the general classification.
With 20 kilometres remaining, the advantage of the seven leaders stretched to as much as 40 seconds, helped by the fact that Demi Vollering instructed her teammates not to chase and to leave the burden of the pursuit to the other teams. It was a calculated gamble, allowing Elisa Longo Borghini to dream of a successful ambush. Unfortunately for the Italian champion, Uno-X Mobility and Human Powered Health were determined to bring the race back together for a sprint. The gap gradually came down, shrinking to just ten seconds as the riders entered the final kilometre.
In the final metres, the Italian champion launched one last acceleration, just enough to ensure that the breakaway riders would survive and fight for the stage victory. In the sprint, 20-year-old Célia Gery got the better of the almost 37-year-old Lucinda Brand, while 19-year-old Chantal Pegolo finished third, becoming the youngest rider since 1994 to step onto a Giro d’Italia Women stage podium. A true clash of generations.
And tomorrow comes the moment of truth on the Colle delle Finestre.
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