Giro Donne 2023 Stage 4 Live - Can Juliette Labous or Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig challenge Annemiek van Vleuten for pink on the hilly road to Borgo Val di Taro?

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) 9'05'33"
2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) +0'49"
3. Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) +0'53"
4. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ - SUEZ) +1'33"
5. Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich) +1'35"

So despite taking significant time over the riders who had been immediately behind her, Annemiek van Vleuten actually finds her overall lead slightly reduced, thanks to the six and four seconds of bonuses claimed by the two riders who beat her to the line.

ELISA LONGO BORGHINI - I'M A LIDL EMOTIONAL

"I'm a Lidl emotional," jokes Elisa Longo Borghini, "especially because I have the tricolore and I'm racing in my home country. I'm always very proud to wear the tricolore, and winning here in front of riders I respect a lot, like Annemiek van Vleuten. It means a lot because it's my second victory in my entire life in a sprint. It's just amazing."

Asked what are her plans for tomorrow, the Italian responds with another quip: "I should probably ride another stage of the Giro d'Italia."

1 Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek)
2 Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB)
3 Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar)

Ten, six and four bonus seconds respectively puts Longo Borghini comfortably into second place, and Veronica Ewers now occupies the third podium place.

Coming into the finish there was a bit of looking around, as Van Vleuten lead the group round the final corners and roundabouts, and kept vigilant watch on the pair behind her. A right hand swing at 200 to go and Longo Borghini went down the left hand side with a powerful surge. Veronica Ewers snuch through the middle and almost made it past the Italian champion but had to settle for a great second place.

Not too far back in the end - I had it at 39 seconds - the bunch crossed the line with Lorena Wiebes winning the sprint for 4th place.

You'd think Van Vleuten would rather take the time than the stage, so has perhaps agreed to work with the others, who will also benefit from as much advantage over the bunch as possible. Podiums are on offer.

I can't see them being caught now, and that's going to be a big chunk of time added to Van Vleuten's column going into the Queen stage tomorrow. She could be doubling her general classification advantage at least, unless they muck around as they near the finish.

Ewers is happy to sit on the wheel of the maglia rosa, who manages to close the gap to the Italia as the road levels out. Back in the bunch it's Lorena Wiebes leading the way in the European champion's jersey.

Ahead of Van Vleuten and Ewers, and the Italian immediately looks to attack on the descent, opening up a good gap already over the maglia rosa. Van Vleuten has made mistakes on descents before, most notably last year in this race.

We wondered if either of these two would work with Van Vleuten, and apparently they won't, but they will try and beat her at her own game.

Can Ewers hang on? Two kilometres to the top of the climb, as Mavi Garcia (Liv Racing TeqFind) seems to have blown up behind, and is about to be reabsorbed by the bunch.

Her team-mates' work complete, it's time for Van Vleuten to take it on herself. Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) is the only rider who can stay with the world champion, and they're already gaining serious ground on Veronica Ewers. Even if she teams up with this pair, or simply stays behind them on her own, it will have been worth it.

Veronica Ewers fighting to get all she can out of this 5km Strela climb, which averages just 3.3%, despite several steeper sections. 45 seconds her advantage as Movistar make every effort on behalf of the race leader.

She's taking every risk as she looks to give herself every chance of taking the stage and as many seconds as possible. Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) is going after her on the downhill. The final classified climb is coming.

Someone's going to have to explain why that one is worth the same as the other two, being just 2km in length, but it is. Cavalli, in a position to build on her lead in the mountains competition, dashes out of the bunch to snatch the four points for second.

Highly noteworthy is that Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) summits in 5th place for a single mountains points. The Dutch rider ain't just fast on the flat.

And she's almost, actually already is, the virtual leader on the road. Most of the time she's gained over the peloton has come from superior descending as well. It's easier on your own versus within a group, but still, impressive stuff. With most of the climbing complete, the 28 year-old has an excellent opportunity here to take the stage and take a big bit of general classification time to boot.

Although able to sit on Ewers' wheel briefly, after the American eases up to her, Pluimers quickly drops away and we can expect to see her back in the bunch before long.

Now she is a threat to the General Classification. The EF Education-TIBCO-SVB rider sits in 6th spot, at 55 seconds down on Van Vleuten. She already has Pluimers in her sights.

That's the mountains competition, for the uninitiated, and for no reason that we can quite understand. It's a nice outfit, by all accounts, but I still think mountains means spots.

Anyway, as Pluimers holds a solid minute plus gap over the bunch, who are putting pressure on from behind, lining out and looking lively, is she aiming more the mountains jersey than the stage win? Six more points won't quite do it for her, but if Cavalli can't pick up any of the remaining the Dutch rider will be very close.

Fairly inconsequential as falls go, but some alarm as Van Vleuten suffers a slow-motion slip on the right hand side of the road, and she has some work to do to return to position.

As the peloton makes contact with the two fading riders, Anouska Koster darts over the top of her Uno-X team-mate Dideriksen. Van Vleuten's Movistar team-mate Liane Lippert is wise to it, however, and there's no danger of Koster getting away.