Mavi García made another strong impression in the fourth stage (134.4 kilometres) on Monday. Nevertheless, she dropped two places in the general classification. When Annemiek van Vleuten and Elisa Longo Borghini attacked on the final climb to Strela (5 kilometres at 3.3%), our Spanish champion and the other GC riders in the peloton had no answer.
GC leader Van Vleuten and Longo Borghini joined Veronica Ewers, who had remained alone at the front after earlier attacks. Although teams behind tried to initiate a chase, the three managed to stay ahead. In the streets of Borgo Val di Taro, Longo Borghini proved she was the strongest sprinter of the breakaway.
The peloton crossed the line 40 seconds later. That gap allowed Van Vleuten to extend her lead in the GC and Longo Borghini and Ewers passed Mavi García. Our Spanish rider is now sixth in the classification (+ 01:39).
“Our team did a fantastic job today, the way they raced gave me a lot of confidence along the stage. Unfortunately, Mavi was a bit too far back when Van Vleuten attacked on the final climb. As a result, she could not follow immediately. Mavi accelerated a number of times and seemed to break away from the chasing group, which confirms that she’s in good shape. But she could never close the gap with the leaders. I was pleased that Quinty Ton and Tereza Neumanova were able to stay in the front group for a very long time. That’s how they really supported Mavi”, said sports director Giorgia Bronzini.
Passo Lupo
Another difficult stage awaits on Tuesday. This includes the Passo Lupo (10.1 kilometres at 8.4%). Giorgia Bronzini: “Tonight we will make a new race plan for tomorrow. The riders are in good shape. Hopefully that will result in a nice performance tomorrow.”