July 4th, 2022
Olympic champion shines brightly with several attacks over last 50km of warm, grueling Romagna route, as ‘Miek’, García (UAD, 2nd), Cavalli (FDJ, 3rd) put five minutes on first pursuit bunch in pivotal day for GC result.
She never disappoints. Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) showed again on Monday’s brutal test around Cesena, start and finish of stage four in the 2022 Giro Donne -121km full of ups and downs over its second half-, how ambitious and intelligent she can be on her bike to become the new GC leader of the Italian grandtour, way earlier than most could expect.
The Olympic champion turned the race upside down with her moves at the Cat-2 climb of Barbotto, with the only opposition from Marta Cavalli (FDJ, 3rd), whom she left behind over the last, non-categorized ascent, and Mavi García (UAD, 2rd), who at some points made ‘Miek’ suffer. The Dutchwoman could still hold off the Spaniard at the sprint and notch up the Movistar Team’s 24th success from 2022, the fifteenth for the Blues’ women’s outfit, a group which will give everything to keep the coveted jumper all the way to Padova on Sunday. The GC gaps are really significant: 25″ on García, 57″ against Cavalli… and 5’00” over Elisa Longo Borghini (TFS), now fourth.
REACTION / Annemiek van Vleuten:
“Today’s is maybe a lesson learned from Johan Cruyff, the famous Dutch football player, that ‘attacking is the best way to defend yourself.’ We knew beforehand that this was going to be a really tricky stage, with tricky descents, bad asphalt – as a GC contender, you don’t want to put pressure on yourself on days like that, you want to stay safe, and so you have a different mentality on the descents, not taking risks. On the other hand, there could also be an option that they would try to put me under pressure on the downhills, on the climbs halfway through, and so I thought attacking was the best way to reduce the group.
“It was a surprise for me, because I thought more girls would follow me, because it was the first climb of the day, after the rest day – it hadn’t been so hard, but it was so warm today, which might have also played in my favour. We ended up with only three at the front – in the finale, I have to say they were both really strong. I only, really attacked on the last, non-GPM climb, with 13km from the finish, and Mavi was strong and took over from there. It was a bit of a flashback from Strade Bianche two years ago, where she also did that. I also knew that, on a longer move, I would be able to match her and get back. We could not drop each other, but we did drop Cavalli, and so we worked together until the finish. Cavalli is faster on a finish like that, so it was important to leave her behind. Mavi attacked just before the tunnel on the final kilometer and surprised me a bit, 600 meters to go – I wasn’t immediately on the wheel, but made it back with 200 meters to go and rode full gas to the finish.
“My point with regards to the race lead is that we already had the jersey on our shoulders, even if it wasn’t physically – I was one of the GC favourites, and it was just that the jersey was not with us. I think the other teams were looking up to us, whether we had it or not. For me, it doesn’t make a difference – I don’t think we need to put the team to the front, either. It doesn’t really make a difference. I’m so proud to wear it already – now it doesn’t matter what happens after that.”
