Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) confirmed her overall victory in the Giro d’Italia Femminile with third place in the 16.2km final stage time trial in San Francesco al Campo, just north of Turin. The stage was won by sprint specialist Ina Teutenberg (HTC-Highroad), in 22’17”, finding the flat but technical course to her liking; beating Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-UCK) by ten seconds, and Vos by fifteen.
World time trial champion Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervélo), Vos’ one real rival in the overall classification, finished in sixth place, 43 seconds behind Teutenberg; while third place overall, Judith Arndt (HTC-Highroad) was fourth, 23 seconds behind.
“I still can’t believe I’ve won this jersey,” said Vos after the race. “A ten-day race is not easy to win. After winning two stages last year and wearing the pink jersey for two days, this race was one of my goals for the year.
“The Passo di Mortirolo gave me the belief that I could carry the jersey until the end, and that’s what happened,” she exple. With the pink jersey, which gives you a charge, it is easier to face the stage. To win over an epic mountain like the Mortirolo is really nice, I consider that the most important victory of my Giro.
“When I’ve come here I’ve always left my mark,” she continued. “I won the white jersey last year, the ciclamino [points – ed] two years ago, and always won at least one stage.
“I’ve ridded three Giri, but this one was really spectacular,” she added. ‘Not just because I won, but for how it was organized and planned.”
So far this season Vos has missed the podium in an individual race, two of which were stages in this Giro. This season she has won the Energiewacht Tour, the Iuretta-Emakumeen Bira, and Raboster stage races, the Ronde Van Drenthe, Flèche Wallonne and Valladolid World Cup races, and both the time trial and road race in the Netherlands championships.
All this followed a season of cyclocross, where she became World champion for the fourth time.
Ellen van Dijk (HTC-Highroad) made the early running, setting a time of 22’47”, having been the twentieth rider to start. This was to stand for a little over forty minutes, until Teutenberg, starting 61st, went thirty seconds faster.
Nobody was able to come close to the German’s time, until Johansson, starting ninth from last, finished just ten seconds slower. German champion Arndt, a few riders later, managed to go faster than van Dijk, but still 23 seconds shy of Teutenberg’s time.
Pooley, starting second last, and getting a rare opportunity to show off her rainbow skinsuit, found the course a little flat and a little short, and could only get to within 43 seconds of Teutenberg. There was no matter though, since, barring catastrophe, she had no chance of catching Vos in the overall standings, or of being caught by Arndt.
Vos started last, dressed all in pink, and managed to put herself on the stage podium, just fifteen seconds down on Teutenberg, despite suffering a puncture in the closing kilometres that undoubtedly robbed her of another stage win. Crossing the line, Vos became the first ever Dutch rider to win either the men’s or women’s Giro d’Italia, 3'26" ahead of Pooley, and a massive 8'15" ahead of Arndt.
As well as the pink jersey for the overall victory, Vos’ Merckx like performance – in which she won five of the ten stages – also earns her the ciclamino points and green mountains jerseys. Tatiana Guderzo (MCipollini-Giambenini) takes the blue jersey as best Italian finisher, while Elena Berlato (TopGirls-Fassa Bortolo) won the white jersey for best under-23 rider.
Result stage 10
1. Ina Teutenberg (Ger) HTC-Highroad 16.2km in 22’17”
2. Emma Johansson (Swe) Hitec Products-UCK @ 10s
3. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 15s
4. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Highroad @ 23s
5. Ellen Van Dijk (Ned) HTC-Highroad @ 30s
6. Emma Pooley (GBr) Garmin-Cervélo @ 43s
7. Olga Zabelinskaya (Rus) Diadora-Pasta Zara @ 51s
8. Evelyn Stevens (USA) HTC-Highroad @ 54s
9. Tatiana Antoshina (Rus) Gauss-RDZ-Ormu @ 1’00”
10. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) MCipollini-Giambenini @ 1’03”
Giro d’Italia Femminile 2011 final overall standings
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
2. Emma Pooley (GBr) Garmin-Cervélo @ 3’16”
3. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Highroad @ 8’15”
4. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) MCipollini-Giambenini @ 9’09”
5. Tatiana Antoshina (Rus) Gauss-RDZ-Ormu @ 12’46”
6. Ruth Corset (Aus) Bizkaia-Durango @ 12’58”
7. Emma Johansson (Swe) Hitec Products-UCK @ 14’15”
8. Sylwia Kapusta (Pol) Gauss-RDZ-Ormu @ 14’26”
9. Shara Gillow (Aus) Bizkaia-Durango @ 15’48”
10. Mara Abbott (USA) Diadora-Pasta Zara @ 16’29”
Ciclamino (points) jersey: Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit)
Green (mountians) jersey: Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit)
Blue (Best Italian) jersey: Tatiana Guderzo (MCipollini-Giambenini)
White (Young rider) jersey: Elena Berlato (TopGirls-Fassa Bortolo)