Lorena Wiebes of Team DSM took the honours on Stage 8 of the Giro Donne after taking the mass sprint ahead of Emma Norsgaard of Movistar Team and Maria Vittoria Sperotto of A.R. Monex. This brings the Dutch rider’s tally of victories at her first Giro participation to two. Following the withdrawals of Bizkaia-Durango and Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank, the remaining participating riders took to the 130km-long stage in San Vendemiano. Despite a series of attempts, the peloton was initially hesitant to let early attacks clear. Following the intermediate sprint in San Vito al Tagliamento, Anastasia Carbonara (Born to Win G20 Ambedo), followed by Natalya Studenikina and Giorgia Vettorello broke away. With Movistar and DSM setting the pace in the peloton, with assistance from Jumbo Visma, the three escapees were reeled in just over 5km from the finish line. In the finishing straight, Coryn Rivera took off over the final 500m, with Wiebes behind her, eventually taking her second stage victory of this year’s race. Anna van der Breggen still remains in pink, ahead of Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and Demi Vollering, all of Team DS Worx.
Lorena Wiebes: “Today we controlled the race again. We had Floortje there in the beginning and in the last part Leah helped too, and it was a really well controlled race for us. The sprint was really messy itself. Juliette brought me to the front in a nice way. I lost Coryn a bit, but luckily she came back in the last 300 metres and sped up really high. I could then start my sprint pretty easily after that and it was really nice to win again for the team. It was a messy finish but we found each other, so in the end we did a really good job.”
