After a false start on Friday the Giro Donne really started with the stage to Marradi on Saturday. Mavi Garcia immediately made her way to the top-10.
Friday the Giro Donne started with a short time trial over 4,4 kilometres. During the time trial is started to rain very heavily and streets flooded. Several riders – with Mavi Garcia as one of them – crashed during the time trial. The organization decided to neutralize the stage. So the second stage on Saturday became the first stage.
Two riders managed to take a nice lead with 75 kilometres to go. On the Passo della Colla the gap of four minutes was brought back to one minute. Five kilometres from the summit the escapees were reeled in by a select group, including Spanish champion Mavi Garcia. From that group Annemiek van Vleuten attacked. The world champion gained a 30 second lead and didn`t gave the other riders a chance to come back. Van Vleuten took the stage win and the maglia rosa.
Garcia finished sixth in a group 45 seconds behind Van Vleuten. “Yesterday was not a good start with the crash and the bad weather. Today it was a whole new day and we started with new ambitions. I had some discomfort on the bike, but luckily I could hang on in the first big group. It is just the start of the race, so a lot can happen in the coming days.”