2024 Giro d’Italia Women Stage Eight – Race Report

How the race finished

Kim Le Court (AG Insurance Soudal) won ahead of her breakaway compatriots Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) and Franziska Koch (dsm firmenich PostNL). Elisa Longo Borghini accelerated away from her competitors to claim fourth place on the stage, and the overall General Classification win. Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx Protime) had to settle for second, with Neve Bradbury (Canyon//Sram Racing) in third.

Full results are available below.

How it happened

The final stage of the Giro d’Italia Women started in Pescara, with the riders gradually climbing before taking in two categorised climbs. After a long descent, the parcours rolled all the way into the finish line, where, with just 1 second separating first and second places going into the day, the overall winner would be decided. 

After a flat start to the day, the climbing started properly about 25 km into the stage. The fight for GC was likely to shape how the stage played out, with Lidl Trek likely keen to see a breakaway go up the road, and SD Worx Protime keen to keep things together, and get as many of their team over the first climbs as possible. 

At 95km to go the peloton began the  uphill drag on the approach to the Forca di Penne climb. There had been a few attempted attacks, but nothing had stuck. Lidl Trek set the pace on the front of the peloton, but attacks continued. Asia Zontone (Isolmat Premac Vittoria) went clear and was joined by teammate Sofia Arici and Lieke Nooijen (Visma | Lease a Bike), but it all came back together.

The next attack came from Lidl Trek themselves, with Lucinda Brand pulling clear with Claire Steels (Movistar) and Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility). The trio got built a slender advantage, and SD Worx Protime took over controlling on the front of the peloton. Approaching the top of the Forca di Penne climb Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance Soudal) jumped out the peloton and bridged to the front group before taking maximum QOM points atop the climb.

The leadered descended and kicked straight up into the toughest climb of the day, the Castel del Monte. Once again Ghekiere took the maximum points, winning the QOM jersey. Behind, the peloton were closing in on the escapees, as SD Worx Protime worked hard to keep things under control and ultimately brought things back together. 

Once things had regrouped and the major climbs were out of the way, the attacks came constantly, with riders looking for opportunities to win the stage. SD Worx Protime only had Niamh Fisher-Black  there with second placed Lotte Kopecky, so they had limited ability to control and chase down attacks. 

With 37 km to go, Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) and Franziska Koch (Dsm firmenich PostNL) clipped off the front. They pushed out a small gap, before Kim Le Court (Ag Insurance Soudal) jumped across the gap to make three up front. 

On the downhill, featherweight Fisher-Black was unable to do much to control the gap. By 20 km to go, SD Worx Protime were still doing their best to reel it back in, while other teams tried to jump across. The trio held 45 seconds and extended it to over a minute by 15km to go. With three up the road the bonus seconds on the finish line would be taken, meaning Kopecky would need to gap Longo-Borghini before the finish line if she wanted to win the overall classification. 

Rather than helping chase, FDJ Suez began to fire riders up the road, with first Grace Brown and the Loes Adegeest attacking. Adegeest got a gap on the bunch but wasn’t able to make it across to the front, finding herself stuck in between. 

The peloton approached an uncategorised climb with 5km to go, and Liv AlUla Jayco hit the front, setting up a leadout for Mavi Garcia, who attacked and went solo in pursuit of Adegeest. Behind her, Kopecky, Longo Borghini and Neve Bradbury followed, getting a small gap on the peloton, but ultimately they sat up and dropped back into the peloton

Up at the front of the race Edwards attacked, seeing Koch dropped. Le Court attacked over the top, but Edwards could hold on. Koch rode her way back to the front with 2km to go, and with an advantage of 42 seconds over the peloton, it looked set for a three up sprint to the line for the stage victory.

 The trio looked at one another as they came to the line slowly. Le Court led it out from the front, and while Edwards looked strong she couldn’t come around, taking another second place. Koch took third.

From the GC group, which had reduced to about 12 riders, Bradbury attacked early, looking to get a jump before the line. Kopecky reacted and jumped but Longo Borghini was immediately on her wheel. The three drew clear, but as they approached the line, Kopecky saw that her chance was gone. Longo Borghini pushed on again, gapping her competitor to take fourth on the stage and seal the Maglia Rosa.

Stage Eight Results

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