Fireworks spark 30th Giro Donne stage win for Marianne Vos
A hilly circuit opened up the finale of the seventh stage of the Giro Donne and allowed for the Dutchwoman to take an exciting 30th victory in Italy.
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) covered a crucial late-race attack by Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) and went on to storm to victory on the seventh stage of the Giro Donne. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx) continued her incredible run at the Giro Donne and landed third on the stage.
The seventh Giro Donne stage finished with a series of hilly circuits that spurred a flurry of attacks from a few of the top teams. With no wins at the Giro Donne so far Liv Racing and FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope were aggressive. SD Worx was not about to stop showing off after their two stage wins and while holding two jerseys and the top three spots on the general classification. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and Niamh Fisher-Black were particularly active in the closing kilometres.
With a punchy climb in the final two kilometres of the race, teams decided to throw different options at the wall and see what stuck. For example, Team DSM sent Coryn Rivera on the attack and held Lorena Wiebes back in case of a bunch sprint.
Into the final four km it looked like teams with strong sprinters, Team DSM, Trek-Segafredo, and Ceratizit-WNT, were resigned to a bunch sprint, but the race went haywire with 1.5 km to go.
Trek-Segafredo was on the front, driving the pace, and Ruth Winder was demonstrating a textbook grimace when Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) threw down a glorious attack straight past the former USA national champion.
Luckily for Trek-Segafredo, Elisa Longo Borghini was perfectly positioned to follow Cromwell’s move and then make her own over the top of the Australian rider. Only Vos could follow Longo Borghini’s attack, with Rivera dangling behind the duo.
Unfortunately, it seems Longo Borghini is constantly finding herself in late-race moves that don’t favour her. First, it was at Strade Bianche against Chantal van den Broek-Blaak, then it was a doomed move at Gent-Wevelgem, and again at the Giro Donne the Italian national champion was not up to outsprinting Vos.
Vos sat in Longo Borghini’s slipstream as the Italian gave it her all to keep away from the rest of the peloton. In the final 150 metres Vos launched away from Longo Borghini to take her 30th Giro Donne stage victory and second at the 2021 Giro Donne.
Longo Borghini still held on for second, with race leader Van der Breggen taking third.
“It is an incredible number, but it is not really something I was thinking of. You know, every day is a new day in the Giro, and every day you have to be ready to focus, to fight and to get there,” Vos said.
[rrsummary id=256259 places=10]