With yesterday’s time trial behind them, the peloton at the Giro d’Italia Women took on the first road stage of this year’s race on Monday afternoon and a 110-kilometre route from Sirmione to Volta Mantovana to contend with. Featuring a few small punchy hills in the finale, the stage was still expected to come down to a group sprint finish.
Riding well as a bubble, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL grouped up throughout the day with the main aim of keeping GC finisher Juliette Labous safe and leaving the chase work to team’s who were focused on a sprint finale. After a big fight, breakaway rider Magalhães was eventually caught with just two kilometres to go so the stage came down to an explosive kick to the line, where Franziska Koch led Team dsm-firmenich PostNL safely home in the peloton.
Speaking after the stage Koch expressed: “It was pretty hot but it’s nice to have some sun and it gave a good atmosphere in the bunch. I think the heat made it quite hard in the finale. It started off really easy as the break went early and then the bunch just rolled along. In the last 40 kilometres it was quite hard because some team’s tried to chase and bring back the break so the speed was higher, plus the roads were pretty narrow and technical with some road furniture. The goal was to keep Juliette safe and not lose time, and we did that, so I think it was a good stage for us.”