2024 Giro d’Italia Women Stage Seven – Race Report

How the race finished

Neve Bradbury (Canyon//Sram Racing) took a stunning solo win atop Blockhaus, with Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx Protime) outsprinting race leader Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl Trek) for second place. The GC is separated by just one second going into the final stage tomorrow.

Full results are available below.

How it happened

Stage Seven was the test everyone was waiting for with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. At 120.4km long, with 3,600m of climbing, and two category one climbs, the stage would see the riders go over the Passo Lanciano twice en route to the stage finish atop the mighty Blockhaus.

With slightly cooler temperatures and a big day ahead, in contrast to previous stages, the first attacks came from the gun. First to try to get up the road were Iris Monicolo (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) and Giorgia Vettorello (Roland), who established a 20 second lead as the road headed uphill towards Orsogna, but were reabsorbed. Undeterred, Vettorello tried again, but couldn’t get away.

Claire Steels (Movistar) set off solo, quickly getting a gap and no doubt hoping others would join her out front. QOM leader Clara Emond (EF-Oatly Cannondale) tried to join her, but she was quickly reabsorbed.

On the next uncategorised climb toward La Fourchetta, with 85 km still to race, Steels was caught, but almost immediately relaunched, quickly gaining 30 seconds again. As the road descended once more the peloton continued to keep Steels in their sights, with Romy Kasper (Human Powered Health) trying to bridge across. 

On the first ascent of the Passo Lanciano Steels was caught, and the peloton saw its number steadily reducing. Urška Žigart (Liv AlUla Jayco) was very active on the front, looking to set up her teammate Mavi Garcia who looked strong on the earlier climbing stages. 

As the climb dragged on no one team seemed keen to take control, and the select group continued tapping out a solid but not overly aggressive tempo. Dropped early on the climb, current QOM leader Clara Emond (EF-Oatly Cannondale) was among those to abandon the race, opening up that category.

300m before the top of the climb Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance Soudal) took off, taking maximum points at the top and consolidating her virtual lead in that classification. Antonia Niedermeier (Canyon//Sram Racing) followed, and the group came across the top and on to the descent more or less intact. Gaia Realini (Lidl Trek) came to the front, positioning herself in the safest place on the terrain that she is typically less suited to. 

On the descent the front group swelled, with Brodie Chapman (Lidl Trek) and Blanka Vas (SD Worx Protime) bolstering the numbers for their respective teams. The pace went out of the group as riders looked for bottles and ice before the final ascent. 

Liv AlUla Jayco and Lidl Trek once again took control on the front, setting the pace through the lower slopes of the climb. Those teammates who had fought their way back on the descent and provided ice and water to teammates were the first to be dropped again, alongside those who settled into a slower but steady pace, thinking about the length of effort still ahead of them.

With Chapman’s turn over at 16km to go, Realini (Lidl Trek) took over the pace setting. Behind her, riders continued to shower themselves with water. Ghekiere (AG Insurance Soudal), Nina Buijsman (FDJ Suez), Solbjørk Minke Anderson (Uno-X Mobility) and Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike) found themselves out the back, and Realini’s pace continued to put the pressure on. 

Juliette Labous (dsm firmenich PostNL) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Suez) – the pair battling for third position on the podium – were dropped together quite early on, but Labous settled in to try to TT her way back up to the group, dropping Uttrup Ludwig in the process. Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Niamh Fisher Black (SD Worx Protime) hovered at the back of the group, struggling to stay in touch through the steeper corners. Labous made contact again with 13km to go, quickly repositioning herself closer to the front of the group. 

On a slightly flatter section at around 11km to go a number of riders took the opportunity to pick up more bottles and ice. Realini continued to set the pace on the front, before at 10.6km to Neve Bradbury (Canyon//Sram Racing) launched the first attack. Rooijakkers (Fenix Deceuninck) got out of the saddle to chase, and Longo Borghini was left setting the pace on the front of the group behind, bringing Niedermeier and Kopecky with her. When Longo Borghini got across the gap she accelerated and came to the front, but Bradbury and Kopecky quickly followed, and the five stayed together. Crucially, neither Longo Borghini or Kopecky had a teammate to rely on.

Bradbury laid off the back of the group and attacked again, and once again Longo Borghini was initially forced to do the work on the front. The group eased up and let Bradbury go, with Rooijakkers setting the pace behind. As Longo Borghini came back through to the front at around 8 km to go Niedermeier initially had trouble following, but was able to rider her way back on. 

With 6.5km to go Longo Borghini put in a strong attack, catching everyone by surprise, but Kopecky powered her way back on. Bradbury still held just under a minute lead, while her teammate Niedermeier struggled to stick with the chasing group behind. After more showering, Longo Borghini looked back and saw Rooijakkers coming back, and put the power down again. Once again, Kopecky held on. 

Once she came back Rooijakkers came through to the front, a move Longo Borghini would surely have been thankful for. Bradbury still held a one minute lead with 4 km to go. With 3.7km to go Longo Borghini attacked again, and once again, Kopecky held on and Rooijakkers was dropped. In another repeat, Rooijakkers rode back on and came to the front again, playing into Longo Borghini’s hands.

Under the Flamme Rouge, with a strong head wind blowing, Bradbury still had a one minute lead. She continued strongly all the way to the finish line, raising an arm to celebrate the win which also saw her jump into third on the GC. Rooijakkers led out the trio behind, with Kopecky going early on the rise before the finish line. Both gritted their teeth, but Kopecky held on for second on the stage. With the bonus seconds on the line, Kopecky goes into the final stage one second behind race leader Longo Borghini.

Stage Seven Results

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