Liane Lippert rode to a final stage win at this year’s Giro d’Italia Women after a thrilling day which saw Elisa Longo Borghini claim a well-fought General Classification.
The Movistar rider held out against former four-time General Classification victor Anna van der Breggen to take the stage on the ride.
Longo Borghini (UAE ADQ) rode well throughout the day to defend her title by 18 seconds in the General Classification.
After Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) took a sterling victory on the penultimate stage of the Giro, powering away from maglia rosa Longo Borghini with 3km to go, setting up a final day where anything could happen.
Longo Borghini entered the day with a strong advantage of 22 seconds over Movistar’s Marlen Reusser, but with such a difficult day on the bike, including eight categorised climbs, it was not going to be a walk in the park for the maglia rosa.
After sealing the General Classification, Longo Borghini said: “It’s been an incredible journey with UAE ADQ. It’s been eight days of completely full gas, we created actions, we believed every single day, and we stayed humble.
“And I can’t be much more thankful to my teammates than now, because if I wear this jersey now, it’s because of them. They were super committed, they were never surrendering, and I’m just speechless.”
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
The action of the final day of racing really kicked off when Lorena Wiebes asserted her presence in the race with a break at 106km to go.
A short while after, the Dutch rider was joined by Lea Curinier (FDJ-SUEZ) and Sara Casasola (Fenix-Deceuninck), who maintained their place at the front for the majority of the race.
With 67km to go, Lidl Trek’s Amanda Spratt and Wiebes’s SD Worx-Protime teammate Mikayla Harvey attacked to bridge the gap between the peloton and the breakaway.
After 16km of chasing, Spratt and Harvey finally bridged across and joined the leading three riders, with the peloton sitting roughly a minute behind.
With 48km to go and ahead of the 4th cat climb, Wiebes continued to inject pace into the leading pack, extending the lead of the group, but behind, Movistar were in control.
The climbs proved difficult for sprinter Wiebes, who was briefly dropped on the approach to the summit of cat 4 climb Mazzolano, and her time at the front was seemingly over. And yet, the Dutch rider fought back to stay within the leading pack.
Despite the wind, the breakaway continued as a five to extend the gap to almost a minute ahead of the next climb.
At 39km to go and at the middle stage of the third trip up the Cima Gallisterna (which had a maximum gradient of 14%), the lead of the breakaway crumbled as Wiebes was dropped on the steep climb.
As they entered their penultimate trip around the Imola circuit, the lead pack (with Wiebes’ teammate Harvey still involved) regained a strong advantage over the peloton, who had now become strung out, with Movistar aiming to limit the breakaway’s chances to survive.
With 23.3km to go, on the uncategorised climb, Wiebes’ tough day on the bike went from bad to worse as she was dropped by the peloton, ending the Dutch rider’s hopes to secure a third stage victory this Giro.
Curinier made a move at 22km remaining, splitting the breakaway as firstly Casasola was left in the dust, before the final trip up the decisive Mazzolano saw Spratt also fall back into the peloton.
Harvey and Curinier managed to keep a gap with the chasers as they quickly returned to a trio, as a dominant Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) joined the front of the race, pushing the pace and bringing the gap to 17 seconds.
Numerous attempts were made to join the front of the race as Lidl-Trek’s Shirin van Anrooij’s attack was neutralised, and Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike) time in the breakaway was short-lived.
Soon enough Smulders was riding solo, having left Harvey and Curinier in her tracks on the final climb of the day, managing to hold off the charging pack.
Smulders was eventually caught by a select group of riders including the maglia rosa, Harvey, and Gigante.
But the final day on the roads of Italy went down to the wire as four-time Tour victor Van der Breggen attacked, with Lippert following suit with only 2km to go.
As they entered the Imola circuit for the final time the duo had a strong gap with the chasing group leading them to a final sprint between the two of them.
It was a battle of nerve, and Lippert proved the stronger on the day as she took the stage win, beating van der Breggen on the line.
Reusser led the chasing pack to round out the podium as the maglia rosa followed on her wheel.
RESULTS
GIRO D’ITALIA WOMEN, STAGE 8, Forlì > Imola (134KM)
1. Liane Lippert (Ger) Movistar, in 3:40:07
2. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, at same time
3. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Movistar, +8s
4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE ADQ
5. Évita Muzic (Fra) FDJ-SUEZ
6. Isabella Holmgrem (Can) Lidl-Trek
7. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck
8. Silke Smulders (Ned) (Liv AlUla Jayco)
9. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto
10. Sarah Gigante (Aus) AG Insurance-Soudal, all at the same time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 8
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE Team ADQ, in 24:37:03
2. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Movistar, +18s
3. Sarah Gigante (Aus) AG Insurance-Soudal, +1:11
4. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +2:55
5. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto, +3:07
6. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +3:32
7. Isabella Holmgren (Can) Lidl-Trek, +3:54
8. Barbara Malcotti (Ita) Human Powered Health, +4:44
9. Urška Žigart (Slo) AG Insurance-Soudal, +4:56
10. Katrine Aalerud (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +5:19
