EF-Oatly-Cannondale’s Clara Emond spent most of the day in the breakaway but left her companions behind in the final 40 km to win the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia Women alone. The Canadian finished 17 seconds ahead of a chasing group with Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM) taking second on the stage and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) third, a further three seconds later.
Behind the attackers, it was a battle for seconds between the GC riders, with Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) successfully pipping Lotte Koepcky (SD Worx-Protime) at the line to retain her pink jersey by only 13 seconds.
Stage 4 Top 10
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How it happened
- Early attacks in the stage meant that three Italians slipped up the road with 112 km to go. Silvia Zanadri (Human Powered Health), Alice Palazzi (Top Girls Fasso Bortolo) and Carmela Cipriani (Bepink-Bongioanni) were joined by two more riders : Emond and Cipriani’s teammate, Ana Vitória Magalhães, the breakaway artist extraordinaire from stage 1. The five rode well together until the final 50 km when the first climb of the day broke the break apart.
- Inside the final 40 km, a group of 15 separated from the peloton. The move included Uttrup, Ella Wyllie (Liv AlUla Jayco), Brodie Chapman (Lidl-Trek), Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM), and UAE Team ADQ’s Erica Magnaldi, all very strong climbers.
- At the crest of the second climb, Chabbey attacked her chasing group and went off in search of Emond with the company of Magnaldi. The Swiss woman used the descent to her advantage and when the two started the final climb to the finish their gap from Emond was down to 1:17.
- In the peloton, a further 1:54 down with 10 km to go, Movistar did the majority of the work while pink jersey wearer Longo Borghini was interestingly semi-isolated, with only Gaia Realini left for Lidl-Trek. Into the final kilometres, Chapman dropped back from the group of (now) 13 to help chase for her leader.
- Chabbey and Magnaldi were caught by their former break mates with 5 km to go, but their gap to the Canadian was still over a minute.
- The group didn’t have enough roads to catch Emond at that point. The Canadian rode to her first victory with a 17-second advantage on Paladin who sprinted out of the chasing group on the final cobbled climb.
GC Top 10
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Brief analysis
- In the battle for pink, Longo Borghini proved the strongest yet again. Kopecky tried to put pressure on her on the final Strade Bianche-like climb…
- But the Italian champion was having none of it.
- Uttrup’s time in the breakaway paid off. Her finish on the stage moved her up to third overall, 38 seconds behind Longo Borghini. Kim Le Court also moved up to fifth overall, 51 seconds down.
Quote of the Day
I thought they would catch me and they never did, and I really started to believe in it. It feels really special to have my first win here at the Giro.
Emond on her first professional win
What’s next?
Stage 5: Frontone to Foligno (108 km)
Date: Thursday, July 11
Stage type: Sprint stage
Summary: The fast women finally get their chance to shine.
Finally, the sprinters get their chance on the fifth stage from Frontone to Foligno. There is only one Cat 3 climb, 12 km into the stage that lasts only two kilometres and will not affect the final 94 km. From km 27 to km 46 there is a long gradual slog upwards that will make the day a bit more challenging, but the stage itself is short so it’s not going to take too much out of the legs.
The final 25 km is downhill, so there is plenty of time to shake out the legs and set up for the sprint.
Originally published in our stage-by-stage preview, found here.
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