Giro Rosa: Van Vleuten seals overall victory, Vos takes sprint win

Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) took the final stage of the Giro d’Italia Internationale Femminile, and her fourth of this year’s race. The Dutch rider again proved her dominance in the sprint, beating Lucinda Brand (Sunweb) and Lotte Kopecky (Lotto-Soudal) on the cobbled kick to the line.

Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) was able to defend her overnight lead of 3:50 over Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) to seal her second-consecutive Giro Rosa title.

“It is a dream come true again,” said van Vleuten. “Last year was the first time and now we did it again. It was a really big goal of mine this year and to finish it off for the second time in a row is really special.”

The race’s final 120-kilometer stage was largely flat all day before a 5km climb to Moruzzo just 15km from the end. After a short descent and run-in to the finish town Udine, the race finished with a steep 300m cobbled climb.

A large breakaway went early in the race before being reeled in midway through the stage. With the bunch back together, a number of riders tried solo moves, but the peloton wasn’t letting anything stick until Romy Kasper (Bigla) and Anna Plichta (Trek-Segafredo) worked together to forge a gap. However, they were caught as the race hit the category 3 Maruzzo climb.

French champion Aude Biannic (Movistar) launched from the peloton after the descent, and gained nearly one minute of a gap, but was caught in the final kilometer as Sunweb and CCC-Liv looking to set up a sprint.

The group came into the bottom of the finishing climb together but immediately fractured as the slope bit. Vos was again totally dominant in the uphill sprint and was untouchable as she went clear from the group. A group of 10 riders followed behind her, though once Vos had a gap, there was no stopping her as she headed toward her fourth stage win of the race.

“We cannot complain about the harvest in this race,” said CCC-Liv sports director Jeroen Blijlevens. “Marianne Vos was in great shape and had an amazing performance with four stage victories. But we are also pleased with the way Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio secured the fourth place.”

Giro Rosa, stage 10

1. Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv)
2. Lucinda Brand (Sunweb) +0:01
3. Lotte Kopecky (Lotto Soudal) – S.T
4. Soraya Paladin (Ale Cipollini) + 0:04
5. Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) – S.T
6. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (CCC-Liv) +0:06
7. Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) + 0:07
8. Demi Vollering (Parkhotel Valkenberg) +0:09

Final GC

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott)
2. Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) + 3:45
3. Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) + 6:56
4. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv) + 7:54
5. Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) + 7:57
6. Lucinda Brand (Sunweb) + 8:03
7. Katie Hall (Boels-Dolmans)+ 8:16
8. Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) +8:20