Marianne Vos won her 30th stage of the Giro Donne near the shores of Lake Garda on Thursday, beating Elisa Longo Borghini to the line after an uphill finish.
The Jumbo-Visma leader was imperious on stage seven, opening up her sprint with 300m to go and easing past Borghini who had attacked on the steepest ramp with a kilometre remaining in Puegnago del Garda.
It ensured Vos' second success of the week, 14 years after first winning in the event. She has also won the race outright three times.
Anna van der Breggen (SDWorx) was third, further cementing her place at the top of the overall standings with three stages remaining.
How it happened
As the Giro makes its way from west to east, the seventh stage opened with a short leg before joining a 16.8km circuit for five full laps.
The first breakaway of note came when world cyclocross champion Lucinda Brand built a solo lead of 75 seconds, her Trek-Segafredo team favouring an attacking strategy once again.
However, with DSM working hard on the front of the bunch, Brand was brought back before the start of the final lap only, for Liv Racing’s Marta Jasulska to attack and get a gap. The 21 year-old Polish rider, however, was reeled in six kilometres down the road.
SDWorx headed a relentless peloton, and they launched a series of attacks on the penultimate time up the climb, stretching and then breaking the bunch into several groups, leaving around 40 at the front.
As the race neared the final ascent, teams’ trains began to form on the front with DSM, Canyon-SRAM, Ceratizit-WNT and the ubiquitous Trek-Segafredo leading the way.
>>> 'Very slowly, like a snail, I crawled up on a mountain bike': Meeting the Brits at the Tom Simpson memorial on Mont Ventoux
It was the American squad into the closing 1300m, but as soon as Brand peeled off the race exploded.
Borghini's attack wasn't necessarily surprising, and Vos was quick to react to it, instantly jumping on her wheel before eventually coming around her to add to her winning tally.
Stage eight of the 10 day race is the final appointment for the pure sprinters, with a pan flat, 129.4km race between San Vendemiano and Mortegliano.
Result: Giro d’Italia Donne, stage 7: Soprazocco > Puegnago del Garda, 1109.6km
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo Visma in 2-48-31
2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
3. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SDWorx
4. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDWorx
5. Soraya Paladin (Ita) Liv Racing
6. Juliette Labous (Fra) DSM
7. Marta Cavalli (Ita) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope
8. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) SDWorx
9. Ilaria Sanguinetti (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service
10. Mavi Garcia (Esp) Alé-BTC Ljubljana all at same time
General classification after stage seven
1. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SDWorx in 17-00-14
2. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) SDWorx at 2-55
3. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDWorx at 3-07
4. Lizzie Deignan (Gbr) Trek-Segafredo at 5-56
5. Elise Chabbey (Sui) Canyon-SRAM at 6-27
6. Erica Magnaldi (Ita) Ceratizit-WNT at 6-39
7. Mavi Garcia (Esp) Alé-BTC Ljubljana at 7-01
8. Juliette Labous (Fra) DSM at 7-05
9. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Alé-BTC Ljubljana at 7-28
10. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) SDWorx at 7-50
