Race report | 03 June, 19:00

Femke de Vries finishes a strong ninth in a tough stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia Women

Name: Team Visma | Lease a Bike
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Stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia Women, raced over a selective course, produced the first major shake-up in the general classification, with a strong ninth place for Femke de Vries

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An early breakaway of no fewer than 22 riders formed during the opening part of the stage. For Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women, Marion Bunel and Viktória Chladoňová were part of the large move. The break was allowed some freedom by the peloton and built a lead of more than four minutes.

As the race progressed and the climbs came in quick succession, both the breakaway and the peloton were steadily reduced. In the finale, Marlen Reusser launched an attack from the group of favourites, forcing the first real selection in the race.

After Femke de Vries bridged up to the favourites group, Demi Vollering made her first acceleration. Only Anna van der Breggen, Antonia Niedermaier, and Isabella Holmgren were able to follow the Dutch rider into the final phase. The reduced group then headed into the final kilometres, where the stage was decided in the closing sprint. With 200 metres to go, Vollering launched her winning move, taking the stage victory.

"These are the kind of days where you end up where you belong on a course like this."

DS Rutger Tijssen

Femke de Vries crossed the line in ninth place and reflected positively on the race afterwards: “Viktória and Marion were really on point today. Getting into that front group was perfect. I was a bit nervous at first, thinking: this is a really strong group, and with a 4:40 gap. From around 85 kilometers to go, everything exploded, there were attacks constantly. I paced myself well. Marion waiting for me at one point and tackling the final climb together really saved me today.”

Sports director Rutger Tijssen looked back on a tough but fair day of racing: “These are the kind of days where you end up where you belong on a course like this. The race was much harder than expected, with aggressive racing from early on. We’re now eighth in the GC, with riders both ahead and behind us within a minute, so a lot can still change in the coming days, but we’re sticking to our objective.”

Stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia Women awaits tomorrow, bringing another key day of racing. The mostly flat route from Ala to Brescello is likely to end in a sprint, although attackers will no doubt try to disrupt that scenario.