Race News

Giro Rosa Stage 2: Annemiek van Vleuten Takes Nail Biting Win

That cat 2 climb was something else...

The second stage of the 18th annual Giro Rosa kicked off in the beautiful surrounding of Zoppola where the riders followed a challenging 122.3km to the finish in Montereale Valcellina. With one categorised climb in the route, and cat 2, we were certainly in for some prime race action.

To recap on yesterday’s Team Time Trial in… We saw the Dutch Boels-Dolmans cycling team scoop up the win with an incredible lead time of 20 seconds over the second team’s finish. This event put the women in good stead for the eight days of riding to follow. Here’s are the stages of the Giro Rosa 2017:

Stage 1: Aquileia – Grado 11.5 km (TTT)
Stage 2: Zoppola – Montereale Valcellina 122.3 km
Stage 3: San Fior – San Vendemiano 100 km
Stage 4: Occhiobello – Occhiobello 118 km
Stage 5: Sant’Elpidio a Mare – Sant’Elpidio a Mare 12.7 km (ITT)
Stage 6: Roseto degli Abruzzi – Roseto degli Abruzzi 116.2 km
Stage 7: Isernia – Baronissi 142 km
Stage 8: Baronissi – Palinuro 141.8 km
Stage 9: Palinuro – Polla 122.3 km
Stage 10: Torre del Greco – Torre del Greco 124 km

There are five rider jerseys up for grabs each day and after the Team Time Trial here’s who’s wearing what going into Stage 2…

Pink Jersey COLNAGO: Karol-Ann Canuel (Boels Dolmans)
Cyclamine Jersey SELLE SMP: Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb)
Green Jersey PURPLE by GLOBALSTOCK: Annemiek Van Vleuten (Orica – Scott)
White Jersey COLNAGO: Amalie Dideriksen (Boels Dolmans)
Blue Jersey GSG: Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5)

Stage 2: Zoppola to Montereale Valcellina – 122.3 km

With a warm 27 degrees heat and a slight breeze, it was certainly a glorious day for road racing in Zoppola as the peloton headed out on Saturday. Within the first 12km of the race, the first attack came from Claudia Koster (VeloConcept) who was joined by Nicole Hanselmann (Cervélo Bigla) where the two held a 25 second lead over the peloton as they headed into the first of two sprints at the 25 km marker point.

Koster and Hanselmann continued to keep the lead over the peloton as temperatures soared, riders were able to grab their water bottles from support vehicles about an hour into the race action.

As the peloton had passed the halfway point, it was clear they were fed up of the leading two and began to work hard to close the gap. It was around 85km where the break was caught by the peloton and they were together once again.

The peloton headed into the mountains and towards the cat 2 climb which proved to be not only steep but technical in the ascent and descent. The riders almost immediately split into groups and stretched the peloton out on the climb.

Towards the top of the climb, Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) makes a break and attacks joined by Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans) Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5).

The leading three maintain an incredible pace all the way to the line…

“I am really happy today that I showed that we can do something special here together.”- Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) and Stage 2 winner

Giro Rosa Stage 2 results:

Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott)
Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans)
Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5)

Here are the jersey results after stage 2:

PINK Jersey COLNAGO: Anna Van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans)
CYCLAMINE Jersey SELLE SMP: Annemiek Van Vleuten (Orica-Scott)
GREEN Jersey PURPLE by GLOBAL STOCK: Annemiek Van Vleuten (Orica-Scott)
WHITE Jersey COLNAGO: Floortje Mackaij (Team Sunweb)
BLUE Jersey GSG: Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5)

Stage 3: San Fior to San Vendemiano (100 km) will begin on Sunday July 2nd at 11:15 (UK time).