The Giro Rosa dished up a breakaway finish today with Cylance Pro Cycling’s Sheila Gutierrez sprinting to the win on stage sevem.
She edged first over the line, taking the victory from a group of 12 riders who escaped after British rider Dani King's attack was pulled back.
The 23-year-old’s stage seven success was the first WorldTour victory of her career and just her fourth at UCI level.
'Amazed' with the victory
Having previously been active, Gutierrez had instigated the attack which brought her victory after about 50 of the 145km stage had passed, and formed a group of 13 riders who managed stay away despite a rapidly approaching peloton.
“I am really happy but it was really difficult because everyone wanted to be in the break,” the recently crowned Spanish champion told Cycling Weekly under the broiling Italian sun.
“Fortunately I had a team mate with me, Rosella Ratto and she worked really hard to build the gap. It was very nervous because the stage was very long and really hot and everyone was very tired in the final. I wanted to push really hard, you have to work for it and finally we reached the goal.
“I was first, and I am amazed with this victory!”
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
The Spanish champion’s team had been determined to place someone in the break with Gutierrez herself trying early in the piece, before Britain’s Dani King escaped solo with over 100km to ride. With so far remaining King’s attempt was unlikely to be successful and she soon sat up.
“We have tried every stage,” continued Gutierrez, “I worked very hard before today and we had to find a different strategy and finally it worked for the team. It is incredible.”
High temperatures make for hard miles
The peloton were suffering the highest temperatures so far when they rolled out of Isernia for the hot dusty race to Baronissi, the seventh of ten stages. The race began very fast with just a few forays by some of the lesser teams, and it was not until around 20km were ridden that the front of the race began to stir with Gutierrez’s first attempt.
The break of the day formed the moment King was brought to heel, and soon had a gap of over two minutes.
Originally 13 women, Chloe Hosking (Alé-Cipollini) was dropped on one of the lesser climbs, leaving the remaining dozen to battle it out. As they approached the only categorised ascent of the day, the gap reached 3.22 and Sunweb’s Sabrina Stultiens became a threat to Annemiek van Vleuten’s third place on general classification.
Van Vleuten keep her eyes on the prize
After the race, having finished just 47 seconds behind Stultiens, van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) was unmoved, clearly not racing for places, telling us, “It is up to Boels if there is anything dangerous and I don’t have to care at all.”
Despite her deficit to race leader and compatriot Anna van der Breggen remaining 1.39 with only three days to go, van Vleuten is confident she can fight for victory.
Podium fun for Anna van der Breggen who has remained in pink (Photo by Sean Robinson/Velofocus.com)
(Image credit: Sean Robinson)
“No, it is all done, I cannot believe I can win it," she joked, before adding, “I tried today, but it was not ideal as the climb was not long enough and too far from the finish, so it is a little bit hard for me to gain the one and a half minutes. An uphill finish would make it a bit different in the tactics, but there are still some hills and tomorrow.
“The show is over on Sunday.”
Tomorrow’s stage takes the peloton on an undulating 141.8km course from Baronissi to Centola south of Naples.
Owen Rogers is an experienced journalist, covering professional cycling and specialising in women's road racing. He has followed races such as the Women's Tour and Giro d'Italia Donne, live-tweeting from Women's WorldTour events as well as providing race reports, interviews, analysis and news stories. He has also worked for race teams, to provide post race reports and communications.
Annemiek van Vleuten will target Giro-Tour double if Giro course is 'interesting'
Year on year improvements make Tour yellow jersey the goal for Uttrup Ludwig
Lorena Wiebes takes second win at Giro Donne 2021 in stage eight sprint
Emma Norsgaard takes Giro Donne sprint victory in Colico on stage six
SD Worx dominate as Anna van der Breggen wins stage two of the Giro Donne 2021
UCI blames organiser for Giro Rosa being relegated from Women's WorldTour
Giro Rosa 2020: Anna van der Breggen seals overall as Muzic takes final stage victory
Giro Rosa 2020: Elisa Longo Borghini takes two-up sprint on stage eight
