Annemiek van Vleuten extended her lead in the general classification at the Giro Donne. The 40-year-old rose-wearer crashed from second place on the hard descent towards the finish, but her main rival Elisa Longo Borghini also crashed behind her around the same time. The Italian lost a lot of time, while Van Vleuten was able to quickly rise again.
Germany’s 20-year-old Antonia Niedermayer won the 106-kilometre stage on Ceres thanks to an attack 26 kilometers before the finish. Movistar Van Vleuten rider followed at 9 seconds. Third place was New Zealand’s Niamh Fisher-Black with a time of just over a minute.
Van Vleuten started the fifth stage, 49 seconds behind No. 2 Luongo Borghini. The Italian was more than 5 minutes behind. Niedermayer and American Veronica Ewers are now the main rivals of the Dutch, with a difference of more than two minutes. Van Vleuten is the defending champion and also won the Italian Grand Prix in 2018 and 2019. The women’s Tour of Italy runs until Sunday.
According to Van Vleuten, it was a “tough but perfect day”. Its main goal, to buy time over the other ranking riders, has been achieved. “I also went for a stage win, but because of my wrong assessment on the descent, that wasn’t possible. Luckily, the damage wasn’t too bad. It was another exciting and attractive ride for women’s cycling, I think.”
