Giro d'Italia Donne 2023: Annemiek van Vleuten powers away from rivals in style to take Stage 6 and secure grip on pink

Updated 05/07/2023 at 14:44 GMT

It was another performance for the ages from Annemiek van Vleuten as the world champion secured a superb victory on Stage 6 of the 2023 Giro d'Italia Donne. It was Van Vleuten's 15th Giro stage win and she extended her lead at the top of the general classification standings and is looking a heavy favourite to win her fourth overall title at the Giro.

'What a champion she is!' - Watch the finish to Stage 6 as Van Vleuten takes victory

A monstrous performance from world champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) saw her power away from the peloton and take the win on Stage 6, tightening her grip on the pink jersey at the 2023 Giro d'Italia Donne.

The stage was again marred by misfortune for a rider high up in the general classification. Ahead of the finale white jersey holder Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon–SRAM) was caught up in a bad crash that led to her leaving the race in an ambulance.

The 103km loop out of Canelli took place in high temperatures but nonetheless under a cloud, with news that the Italian champion, and winner of Stage 4, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) would not begin the stage after crashing badly on Tuesday. The shape of the stage was also - literally - altered by roadworks which forced organisers to bring the finish 2km down the final climb. That brought it within the bounds of Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) who, despite showing climbing prowess, is better known as a super sprinter.

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That, plus the backending of the classified climbs, also rendered any breakaway effort even less likely to hit the target. Indeed, for the entire first half of the stage every effort even to establish something proved fruitless.

With 50km remaining, the peloton seemed satisfied to allow Elinor Barker (Uno-X) and Petra Stiasny (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to slip away. Their advantage never made it much beyond a minute, however, and was cut in half on the 5km Castino climb as the bigger teams, including Lidl-Trek, Movistar, SD Worx and DSM-firmenich, laid down the power.

Their efforts also served to reduce the size of the lead group to little more than two dozen riders. As the road levelled out disaster struck when Urzka Zigart (Jayco Alula) either hit something in the road, or suffered a mechanical that sent her toppling across the road and into the path of Niedermaier, who had nowhere to go. The winner of Stage 5 hit the deck face first, and was forced to abandon.

As the peloton increased the pressure, Barker dropped Stiasny and was herself picked up by the bunch with 27km remaining on the stage. DSM-firmenich and SD Worx were those most intent on setting up their leaders for the finish, as Blanka Vas (SD Worx) looked to split the bunch apart and give Wiebes every chance. The maglia rosa was not prepared to permit that, and put in the work required to rejoin the two halves.

With just over 22km to go, Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx) tried to make a move to pull away but she was held in relative check. Esmee Peperkamp (DSM-firmenich) looked to lead Juliette Labous onto the steep Calosso climb but Van Vleuten was, herself, waiting in the wings.

With just over 13km to go the move was made, as the world champion launched her attack, putting distance between her and the rest of the peloton. On the climb itself there was little the much reduced bunch could do about Van Vleuten's superior power-to-weight, but she was still in sight as the road levelled and began to point downwards.

'Ups the pressure!' - Watch the moment Van Vleuten powered away from peloton

They couldn't organise however, and Van Vleuten stamped on the pedals to build an advantage of almost a minute with 5km remaining.

No one could stop her as she powered away to take her 15th Giro stage win, her 101st win overall in her career, as she closed in on a fourth Giro Donne overall title as we build up to the Tour de France Femmes.

"It's super cool to win on a day that before you think is maybe for a sprinter," Van Vleuten said afterwards. "Lorena Wiebes showed that it could be for a sprinter [but] I tried to avoid that and went for an attack. When a plan comes together, it's super nice. "

'I'm always in for a plan to attack' - Van Vleuten explains Stage 6 tactics

Despite being dropped on the final climb, Wiebes was delivered back to the bunch and surged up the hill into Canelli to finish just 20 seconds behind the maglia rosa.

Despite being distanced on the penultimate climb, Veronica Ewers (EF Education–Tibco–SVB) got herself back in the main group to retain her spot on the podium.

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