Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) topped the overall standings again at the Giro Donne, finishing ahead of Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuruscope) by a minute and 52 seconds and Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ) by five minutes and 56 seconds.
“Super proud to target this with the team,” said van Vleuten. “It’s nice to win, but it’s way nicer to do it together.
“A stage race is something I can’t do alone, that’s where teamwork comes together and you need everyone in the team, the riders and the staff. We will celebrate this together.
“It’s never easy, most of the hard work is put in before the Giro, in my training over many, many hours so I recover so well.”
Van Vleuten claimed two stage wins over the course of the race, beating Mavi Garcia in a two-up sprint on Stage 4 and then crashing on Stage 8 while heading solo into the finish but still picking herself up to win by 59 seconds over Cavalli.
Van Vleuten was a consistent beaming presence at the end of each stage, clearly enjoying her time in the lead in pink.
"There are so many Italian people shouting ‘maglia rosa, maglia rosa’, it’s really special to wear,” said van Vleuten. “It is a big honor for me to take it home again. It’s not my favourite colour, but in the Giro it is.”
Van Vleuten will now head to the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the favourite to win the inaugural edition of the revamped women’s Tour de France. She talked of how she and the team are planning to prepare in the lead up to the Tour, with most of the work done already.
“I think we are already 99 per cent great,” said van Vleuten, “with the Tour de France, there will be a little more tension, for sure there is more pressure. We are well prepared.
“It’s about recharging, especially mentally, not so much physically. Even today I got up with fresh legs.”
The final stage was taken out by Chiara Consonni (Valcar-Travel & Service) in a messy bunch sprint, one of two Italians to win stages during the race, with world champion Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) claiming a pair of sprint wins.
Not just content with the maglia rosa, van Vleuten also took home the cyclamen jersey for winning the points classification, and moved into the overall lead of the Women’s WorldTour standings.
Australian WorldTour squad BikeExchange-Jayco took home the mountains jersey with Kristen Faulkner, the American also claiming a victory on Stage 9.
Niamh Fisher-Black (SD-Worx) won the white jersey for the best U23 rider, while second-placed Cavalli was the best Italian rider and also helped her squad, FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope, take home the team classification title.
The highest placed Australian was Neve Bradbury (Canyon//SRAM Racing) in tenth, the 20-year-old outperforming many more experienced riders to record her highest overall finish at a UCI-rated stage race.
