Giro d'Italia Donne 2023: Annemiek Van Vleuten wins Stage 7 with classy attack to extend lead in pink

Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) timed her late attack to perfection to take Stage 7 of the 2023 Giro d'Italia Donne.

Juliette Labous (dsm–firmenich) and Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) joined the Dutchwoman in the lead group but were only able to stay with her for so long. Van Vleuten, knowing both had the podium to ride for, forced the pair to ride for her before they succumbed to the inevitable. The Frenchwoman and the Italian had to settle for the consolation prizes of second and third on the stage respectively.

The final stage on mainland Italy took place entirely in Milan-Sanremo country, though in rather less spring-like conditions than la Classicissima. Starting in Albenga the course travelled in a snail shell-shaped loop across three categorised climbs before finishing overlooking the Mediterranean in neighbouring Alassio.

It was another cautious affair, with Movistar unwilling to let anyone escape their clutches. The first 50 or so kilometres of the 109 saw only one move of note, that of Elena Pirrone (Israel Premier Tech Roland), who spent some solo time out front but was never more than a few hundred metres from the front of the bunch.

The race was all together, and completely under the Spanish squad's spell, as it passed the halfway mark. Fem Van Empel (Jumbo Visma) reached out towards the top of the category 2, Il Vigneto to take a maximum eight points.

43km out Anouska Koster (Uno-X) made a bid for freedom in what would prove to be the most sustained move of the day. No threat to anyone on the top ten or even further down, but she built her lead up to a minute, rather than being gifted it. A handy time triallist, Koster was better suited to the terrain between the second and third official climbs, and her advantage was always likely to evaporate when the road reared up.

So it proved, as Movistar moved to position their leader ahead of the difficult terrain that characterised the final 20km of the stage.

Lidl-Trek and dsm-firmenich also had podium ambitions, and it was the former's Lizzie Deignan who swept up Koster at the foot of the category 2, Cima Paravenna. That moderate effort was enough to reduce the size of the group from a reasonable sized to select. Mavi Garcia (Liv Racing TeqFind) drifted away but Van Vleuten was simply biding her time.

The world champion hung back in the wheels of Labous and Realini for a while before stamping on the pedals, chewing up Garcia's advantage and spitting the Spanish champion out the back of the group.

Labous and Realini were just about able to stay with Van Vleuten while the they made certain that the stage would only go to one of them. For the next five kilometres the maglia rosa obliged the Frenchwoman and the Italian to work, knowing full well they had podium places to play for. The gap grew to the rest, with riders scattered all over the climb, as Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) slipped off the virtual podium.

Van Vleuten had saved herself for a showpiece moment which inevitably came on the final climb to the finish. When she decided Realini and Labous were of no more use to her, she simply left them behind. She gained twelve seconds over barely a few hundred metres to further impose her dominance on this race.

Van Vleuten now leads the general classification by almost four minutes, having secured her 102nd stage win of her career.

Afterwards Van Vleuten was keen to pay tribute to her Movistar colleagues: "It was an especially nice one because it was really a team performance," she said. "The team was perfectly on point to defend the jersey. Everyone did their job and it was super nice to finish it off. I ended up in a really good situation in the final, with Gaia Realini in front of me, instead of in my wheels - they had to work for the podium. It was perfect for us."

Labous and Realini move into the podium positions with Veronica Ewers (EF Education) dropping down to fourth overall.

Friday is a rest and transfer day, as the Giro Donne resumes in Sardinia on Saturday, for the final two stages.

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