Dutchwoman confirms pink jersey by outsprinting breakaway rivals after long rolling stage
Marianne Vos (Netherlands) won the sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia Femminile between Gallarate and Arcisate, just outside Varese, the venue for the 2008 World championships. Vos beat Judith Arndt (HTC-Columbia) and Olga Zabelinskaya into second and third at the end of the rolling 116km stage; World champion Tatiana Guderzo (Team Valdarno) led a small group home 10 seconds later.
“I’m very happy with the win today,” said Vos afterwards, “although I think the next stages of the Giro will be decisive. There are a lot of contenders for the overall victory and it’s a very open Giro. It’s certainly very well organised and to win [overall] would be a great honour for me.
“Meanwhile, we have the stage tomorrow, which will be very hard,” she added.
The early attack came from Lauren Kitchen (Australia), who’d been the first to make a move in yesterday’s stage, with Silvia Valsecchi (Top Girls-Fassa-Bortolo-Ghezzi) and Alessandra Borchi (Safi-Pasta Zara). By the 2Xkm point the trio had a lead of more than 2’30” over the peloton. On the climb to Brinzio though, one of the climbs used in the Trofeo Binda World Cup in March, the lead fell steadily; by the summit it was cut to just 23 seconds and it was all back together at the start of the next climb to Cunardo.
On the climb a group of around 30 riders detached from the front of the peloton, including all of the main contenders. As the race headed towards the finish in Arcisate the HTC-Columbia team kept the speed high to prevent attacks.
On the approach to the finish Arndt and Zabelinskaya got away, and were joined by Vos in the final few kilometres. With 300m to go Arndt opened up her sprint but was no match for Vos, who came around her to win by more than a bike length.
Bonus seconds on the line see Vos very slightly extend her lead over Arndt in the overall classification.
Tomorrow’s stage will see the race tackle two major climbs, including the Madonna del Ghisallo, while Friday’s stage crosses the mountains to Switzerland as it heads towards the big rendezvous on Saturday on the Passo del Stelvio.
With a number of pure climbers lurking just behind her in the overall classification, including the Cervélo TestTeam pair of defending champion Claudia Häusler and Tour de l’Aude winner Emma Pooley, Vos faces a stiff challenge to hold onto her pink jersey.
Result stage 6
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Netherlands National Team
2. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Columbia
3. Olga Zabelinskaya (Rus) Safi-Pasta Zara
4. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Team Valdarno @ 8s
5. Edita Pucinskaite (Ltu) Gauss-RDZ-Ormu @9s
6. Evgeniya Vysotskaya (Ukr) Team Valdarno
7. Nina Ovcharenko (Ukr) Michela Fanini-Record-Rox
8. Elena Berlato (Ita) Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo-Ghezzi
9. Mara Abbott (USA) United States National Team
10. Claudia Häusler (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam
Standings after stage 6
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Netherlands National Team
2. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Columbia @ 25s
3. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Team Valdarno @ 1’03”
4. Cladia Häusler (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam @ 1’23”
5. Olga Zabelinskaya (Rus) Safi-Pasta Zara @ 1’31”