News: Lizzy Banks wins stage in Giro

Britain’s Lizzy Banks (Équipe Paule Ka) victorious after outstanding performance on Stage four of the Giro Rosa in Italy while Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-SCOTT) extends her lead overall

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News: Lizzy Banks wins stage in Giro

Britain’s Lizzy Banks (Équipe Paule Ka) victorious after outstanding performance on Stage four of the Giro Rosa in Italy while Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-SCOTT) extends her lead overall

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At 170km in length, stage four covered a distance 10 km longer than the recommended UCI maximum for Women’s WorldTour stages. After the start in Assisi, the first 70km of the race was fairly flat before the riders took on a category 3 climb in Arrone which featured some steep ramps with gradients of up to 12 per cent.

Afterwards, the route continued rising continuously towards the finish line in Tivoli. Altogether there was 2,200 metres of climbing, some cobbled sections, and a narrow uphill finish had to be contested, which made for a tough day out in the saddle. After 80km of racing, Lizzy Banks was able to form a breakaway with another rider and the duo carved out a maximum advantage of almost six minutes on the peloton.

With one kilometre remaining, the British rider Banks launched a decisive attack and was rewarded with yet another outstanding win, a great achievement in a world-class field at this year’s Giro Rosa. Her win today is her second at the prestigious Italian stage race, after she became a Giro stage winner at last year’s edition of the race.

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Lizzy tells us about the stage: “The long stage provided us with another good challenge. We had done a good course recon, and looked at the route and where the best place to attack would be. We knew we had to go early and I tried several times, and then eventually I succeeded and got away with another strong rider. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but the gap kept growing and the time went out to 6 minutes and so we kept pushing.

I was thinking the entire time about how I could win the stage. I decided to attack on a steep part and once I had the gap, all I had to do was to push through until the line. I was determined to win, and I did it. It was a special stage for us, as we passed the place where our team owner’s family is from and where he spends a lot of time. It was an amazing day in the saddle, and I’m happy to have finished it off like this.“

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Team Owner Thomas Camapana praised the team’s achievement after today’s stage: With temperatures of over 34 degrees, it was certainly not easy and I have to hand it to them – they rode extremely well under these circumstances and full compliments go to the team for what they have achieved today. It was a truly remarkable achievement. Sincere congratulations to Lizzy, who rode a very strong race today to take the win, it’s a very well-deserved accomplishment for her, and everyone in the team couldn’t be prouder of the way she rode the stage. It’s a particularly nice way to end the day, which has turned out being quite a special one, because on the way from Assisi to Tivoli, the race passed by the house where my father was born in Campello. That was a great motivation, and to have the team win in front my family on my Italian side was very special.”

Van Vleuten extends Giro Rosa race lead with late attack on stage four

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World champion Annemiek van Vleuten extended her overall race lead at the Giro Rosa for the second day in-a-row with a late attack on stage four. The defending champion took the opportunity to distance her rivals on the technical final climb to the finish, crossing the line in third place behind a two-rider breakaway.

Annemiek van Vleuten: “It was a really long day, really hard. My focus was just to be in position with 2.7-kilometres to go when it got more narrow when we turned to the left. I thought if I’m good position I go for it, otherwise I go safely to the finish, I didn’t want something like yesterday. In the final I was nervous, yesterday I almost lost time. So I was quite nervous in the finish because I knew you could lose time there if you’re not well positioned, so that’s why I was so relieved that I could even put some time into my competitors.

“I’m super happy that I had really good legs in the final, it’s a really good sign of my shape. My team did a really good job today to defend it. It was really a stage where you cannot do it by yourself.”

Stage
1. Elizabeth Banks Équipe Paule Ka 04:27:21
2. Eugenia Bujak Alé BTC Ljubljana @ 07
3. Annemiek van Vleuten  Mitchelton-Scott @ 01:10
4. Elisa Longo Borghini Trek-Segafredo Women @ 01:22
5. Katarzyna Niewiadoma Canyon-SRAM Racing @ 01:25
6. Liane Lippert Team Sunweb @ 01:27
7. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig  FDJ-N. Aquitaine-Futuroscope @ 01:31
8. Mavi Garcia Alé BTC Ljubljana @ 01:36
9. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio CCC-Liv @ 01:42
10. Marianne Vos CCC-Liv @ 01:42

49. Abby-Mae Parkinson Lotto – Soudal Ladies @ 03:38
73. Lizzie Deignan Trek-Segafredo Women @ 05:21
81. Hannah Barnes Canyon-SRAM Racing @ 05:33
82. Elizabeth Holden Bizkaia – Durango @ 05:33

Overall
1. Annemiek van Vleuten Mitchelton-Scott 12:35:33
2. Katarzyna Niewiadoma Canyon-SRAM Racing @ 01:56
3. Anna van der Breggen Boels – Dolmans Cycling Team @ 02:03
4. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig FDJ-N. Aquitaine-Futuroscope @ 03:03
5. Mikayla Harvey Équipe Paule Ka @ 04:21
6. Elisa Longo Borghini Trek-Segafredo Women @ 04:32
7. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio CCC-Liv @ 04:34
8. Mavi Garcia Alé BTC Ljubljana @ 04:38
9. Marianne Vos CCC-Liv @ 05:29
10 Elise Chabbey Équipe Paule Ka @ 05:36
11. Elizabeth Banks Équipe Paule Ka @ 05:56

Full Result: 

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