Giro Donne Stage 6 Live - Vos wins in thrilling conclusion

WOW! What an incredible finish. Marianne Vos takes it as we finish with a reduced bunch sprint. She took the wheel of Kristen Faulkner after Lotte Kopecky launched her attack with 200m to go. Vos showed her power to come around and win comfortably to secure her second win of this years race and her 32nd Giro Donne stage victory.

We're back together again! Van Vleuten has put in an incredible descent and we now have a group of 10 out front all battling for the win.

Elisa Longo Borghini sees an opportunity to claw some time back and attacks. She is joined by Vos and Mavi Garcia over the top of the climb.

We now have Lucinda Brand and Marianne Voss leading a strung out group. Further back a Canyon Sramm rider has gone down.

Here we go. We have reached the final climb and this is where the stage will be decided. Berteau is still out front. She has lead of 26" but she would have needed more to be able to hold on. Team BikeExchange are taking full control of the peloton with their train and it looks like they may be about to launch Amanda Spratt.

Team BikeExchnage and Jumbo Visma have hit the front as we move into the final 10km. Berteau has a 46" gap but expect that to come down pretty quickly now.

The final climb has 200m of cobbles which is going to be fun. The climb then finishes with a sharp left hand turn before a downhill finish. It's not a particularly technical descent so I don't expect to see any gaps made there. Who will fancy a go at the bottom of the climb? Maybe Marta Cavalli?

Berteau is really having a go at this. She has 48" on the pack with 15km go. Will she hang on? I doubt it but it's certainly entertaining. Teams will now start to think about that final climb. This is still anyone's stage.

Victoire Berteau (Cofidis) is the next to go. The tempo had slowed right down as the peloton passed through the only intermediate sprint of the day. Marta Cavalli rolled through to take the bonus seconds although she didn't face much competition.

We have one more climb to deal with today. Although an uncategorized one, it's sharp and could provide some action. It comes with 4km to and then after that it's downhill to the finish line.

Wow. The peloton really upped the pace on that climb and caught Vigila in what felt like seconds. Marianne Vos tries to create a gap on the attack but it doesn't stick and once again we all back together. Who will go next ?

We've reached San Pantaleone for the fifth and final time and Vigilia is still out front on her own. The Italian is looking good and has a 20" gap back to Hajkova who has put a bit of distance in to Larrate.

The peloton are about 50" behind Vigilia.

As predicted we have had some more riders go up the road. We have Alessia Vigilia (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) out front on her own, she currently has a 21" gap on Eukene Larrarte (Bizkaia Durango) and Narketa Hajkova (Bepink) and 38" on the maglia rosa and peloton.

Kristen Faulkner (Bike Exchange-Jayco) bridged the gap to Brand and the pair worked together in attempt to open a gap. They managed to get 10" on the pack but they were quickly swallowed up. I have a feeling we are going to see a lot of this right up until the finish.

Lucinda Brand (Trek Segardeo) has attacked over the top of San Pantaleone and is now creating a gap on the descent. Canyon Sram are trying to follow but Brand is taking the corners so well and has opened up about a ten second gap.

As we get the live pictures for today's stage we join the action with 47km to go until the finish in Bergamo. As it stands the riders are all together in the peloton!

TODAY'S PROFILE

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) 11:51:35s

2. Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) +0:25s

3. Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine) +0:57s

4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek Segafredo) +5:00s

5. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine) +5:13s

6. Amanda Spratt (BikeExchange - Jayco) +5:14s

7. Elise Chabbey (Canyon Sram) +5:21s

8. Niamh Fisher-Black (Team SD Worx) +5:28s

9. Silvia Persico (Valcar Travel & Service) +5:29s

10. Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) +6:10s

Yesterday saw a bunched sprint after a pretty predictable stage. It was Elisa Balsamo (Trek Segafredo) who picked up her second victory of the race as she pipped Charlotte Kool (Team DSM) on the line. Marianne Voss (Jumbo Visma) crossed the line in third as the same trio of sprinters continued to occupy the podium places.

Amminiek Van Vleuten (Movistar) had a quiet day in pink and remains 39” ahead of Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) in the general classification, with both finishing safely in the pack.

Welcome back Giro Donne fans! We’re here with live coverage of Stage 6. The riders are tackling a 114.7km route starting in Sarnico and finishing with a run into Bergamo. They will do five 18km laps around Sarnico before a 25km sprint to the finish with the laps containing the short, punchy cat 3 climb of San Pantaleone which should provide us with some great attacking action.