Ruth Edwards capped off a successful Giro d’Italia Women with another stunning breakaway ride to score second on the final day. Edwards’ podium finish capped a successful week of racing in Italy for Human Powered Health Cycling.
On the 117 km rolling route from Pescara to L’Aquila, the 31-year-old rode as part of a breakaway of three that battled it out for the win.
“It’s a hard but good feeling, so a weird combination of being proud of yourself but wishing you’d done just a little bit better,” Edwards said after her second place. “I’m really happy with how the week went. Thüringen was a super big high coming in and I’ve had my ups and downs but to finish it off this way feels good.”
After some preliminary tests earlier on in the stage, the 31-year-old made a move to stick with stage winner Kimberley (Le Court) Pienaar (AG Insurance – Soudal Team) and German champion Franziska Koch (Team dsm-firmenich PostlNL).
“I’d just gone past Franzi [Koch] and said, ‘let’s go’,” Edwards explained. “I needed a friend and she’s super strong, especially because we were in a downhill section. I’d seen Kopecky look to her left, so we went on the right because she was the one mainly chasing down the attacks and I gave a full gas effort.”
Doing her fair share of work, Edwards battled valiantly to keep the trio ahead of the chasing group. Mauritian (Le Court) Pienaar made it past the American in the final stretch to seal an historic victory for African cycling.
“Everyone is always giving their best in the team,” said Edwards. “We’re riding well in the bunch, which makes me feel so relaxed when the same jerseys surround me. We had big goals with Barbara on the GC to get a top-15 and she pulled that off so that was also really motivating.”
Elsewhere, Silvia Zanardi scored maximum points at the intermediate sprint point in Catignano to secure an overall victory in the classification.
“It’s been a long time since I got on the podium and I wanted to do it,” Zanardi said triumphantly. “I had some bad moments, and the fall certainly didn’t help me, but I always had the support of my teammates and the whole team.”
The result leaves the team with a very positive five top-eight finishes from eight stages, with Barbara Malcotti finishing 15th on the GC, one of the program’s most successful Grand Tours in its history.
“My goal for this year was top 15 in GC,” says Malcotti. “I had to suffer a lot, but I gave everything for the team but also for myself. This season wasn’t easy, but I was resilient, and I never gave up. I want to get more than this for sure, not just for me but also for the team because they believe in me step by step.”
Human Powered Health is now at the Baloise Ladies Tour for a week of action in Belgium from July 17th through 21st.
Giro d’Italia stage 6 results 1 (LE COURT) PIENAAR Kimberley – AG Insurance – Soudal Team 3:19:08 2 EDWARDS Ruth – Human Powered Health ” 3 KOCH Franziska – Team dsm-firmenich PostlNL ” 4 LONGO BORGHINI Elisa – Lidl – Trek 0:25 5 LABOUS Juliette – Team dsm-firmenich PostlNL 0:29 6 ROOIJAKERS Pauliena – Fenix-Deceuninck ” 7 BRADBURY Neve – Canyon//SRAM Racing ” 8 GARCÍA Mavi – Liv AlUla Jayco ” 9 MEIJERING Mareille – Movistar Team 0:32 10 GHEKIERE Justine – AG Insurance – Soudal Team ”
Sprints classifications overall result 1 ZANARDI Silvia – Human Powered Health 41 points 2 MAGALHÃES Ana Vitoria – Bepink – Bongioanni 20 3 STEELS Claire – Movistar Team 18 4 CIPRIANI Carmela – Bepink – Bongioanni 16 5 SIERRA Arlenis – Movistar Team 12 6 MISSIAGGIA Alessia – Top Girls Fasso Bortolo 12 7 PERSICO Silvia – UAE Team ADQ 10 8 ROSEMAN-GANNON Ruby – Liv AlUla Jayco 10 9 ŽIGART Urška – Liv AlUla Jayco 8 10 KASPER Romy – Human Powered Health 8
