How the race finished
Liane Lippert (Movistar) won a 3-up sprint from the breakaway, with Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) and Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ).
Full results are available below.
How it happened
Stage Six saw the riders face a relentless rolling course, with three categorised climbs and over 2,400m of climbing over the 154.2km stage from San Benedetto del Tronto to Chieti. It was another fiendishly hot day in Italy, and with the longest stage of the race ahead of them, riders could be seen in ice vests before the startline.
At just 14 km into the stage the peloton encountered a steep uncategorised climb which could have provided a launchpad for any talented climbers interested in the breakaway – however the peloton stuck together.
At 130 km to go there was still no break. With the hot weather, and the aggressive racing over the past couple of days, many of the riders seemed happy to take it a bit easier – especially with a lot of challenging terrain still to come. At the intermediate sprint in Teramo Arlenia Sierra (Movistar) rolled through to take maximum points.
The peloton approached the start of the longest climb of the day, the third category Cermignano climb, with 95 km to go. Despite a few attacks it stayed together on the climb, and Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance Soudal) bested the current QOM leader Clara Emond (EF-Oatly Cannondale) for the maximum points.
With 67 km to go, the peloton approached the peak of another uncategorized climb. The amount of climbing was already having an attritional affect on the race – while there were no big attacks off the front, a steady trickle of riders found themselves dropping off the back of the peloton.
Coming into the base of the second categorised climb of the day, the 6.6km long climb to Penne, Alessia Vigilia & Femke Gerriste clipped off the front. They established a small lead, but attacks from behind brought things back together. Dsm-firmenich PostNL began pacing hard on the front, splintering the peloton. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceunick) led the reduced group of around thirty riders over the top.
On the descent off the climb Elise Chabbey (Canyon//Sram Racing) took to the front, pulling a small group clear, but slid out on a corner, creating a split in the bunch. Chabbey was able to find her feet again, but the group of Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), Ane Santesteban (Laboral Kutxa Fundación Euskadi), Liane Lippert (Movistar) and Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) had drawn clear, holding around 15 seconds lead.
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx Protime) came to the front of the peloton, setting up for teammate Niamh Fisher-Black to attack. Gaia Realini (Lidl Trek) followed quickly, and Fisher-Black kept the pace on despite being brought back. Elisa Valtulini (BePink Bongioanni) saw an opportunity to attack over the top, quickly getting a small gap before, like Chabbey, sliding out on a corner, and her chances were over.
With 32 km to go Lotte Kopecky kicked things off, with Longo Borghini following. Kopecky wasn’t keen to push on, and the gap to the leading quarter extended out to 1 minute 15 seconds. FDJ Suez took responsibility for the chase, with Grace Brown pacing on the front to defend Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig’s third place on the General Classification.
On a small rise Monica Tinca Colonel (BePink Bongioanni) came to the front, before Niamh Fisher-Black attacked, closely followed by Niedermeier. The peloton strung out behind, but the string didn’t snap. Brodie Chapman (Lidl Trek) came up to patrol the front, setting a tempo to deter any other attacks.
The breakaway group continued to work well together, extending their lead and starting the final climb to the finish line in Chieti with just under 2 and a half minutes up their sleeves. Once the climb started, dsm-firmenich PostNL once again set the pace on the front, and with 5km to go the leading quartet had only 1 minute 30 seconds. Santesteban began to slip backwards, with Magnaldi setting the pace at the front of the race.
In the peloton, Ninke Vienke (dsm firmenich PostNL) pulled off, and Fisher-Black came through to the front to set the pace, with Realini shadowing her. White jersey wearer Antonia Niedermeier (Canyon//Sram Racing) came through and upped the pace, but Realini matched her closely.
With 2.7km to go Kopecky launched, but Longo Borghini was straight on her and then attacked over the top. Initially Kopecky couldn’t initially follow, but was able to winch her way back to the wheel. Rooijakkers was next to try, but was followed by Neve Bradbury (Canyon//Sram Racing) who dragged the bunch back with her. Mavi Garcia looked to slip off the front during a lull in the pace, but also wasn’t allowed any space.
As the leading trio realised they were going to have the opportunity to battle it out for the stage win, they all prepared for the finish line. Magnaldi led out, Lippert opened up first and it looked like Edwards was going to be able to come around, but Lippert could hold her off until the line to take the stage.
Just moments later the reduced peloton came to the line, but with bonus seconds all taken by the breakaway riders, Kopecky wasn’t interested in wasting an energy in the sprint to the line, leaving Longo Borghini to pick up fourth.
Stage Six Results
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