Another league, another dimension, another galaxy. Call it what you want, because the result is the same for several years: no one is capable of overshadowing Annemiek van Vleuten in the big tours. This Sunday, the Dutch won his fourth Giro Donne, which means equaling in the record of the race to another legend like Anna van der Breggen with his fifth consecutive big: two Italian rounds, two Vueltas and a Tour de France. Precisely there, on French soil, the Movistar will be there in fourteen days to try to achieve an unprecedented milestone in the history of cycling: two consecutive Grand Tour triplets.
But as if this were not enough, Van Vleuten has won the general classification of this Giro, chaining recital after recital, which has not only translated into an overwhelming advantage over the rest of his rivals. The numbers speak for themselves: three stage wins, pink jersey for eight days and victory in all secondary classifications (points and mountain, since by age it did not enter the classification of young people). And the thing does not end there, since the Movistar took the team classification with a choral work around their leader, in addition to having some presence on the run and caressing several more stage victories with Liane Lippert. Little more can be asked for.
The ninth and final stage of this Giro Donne presented little difficulty for Van Vleuten to retain the pink. Labous, Realini and company needed an anthological performance to turn the general classification around, and they did not even cheer up at Tempio Pausania (7.7 km at 4.7% average), the last categorized port of the race. At this point, the conformism was absolute. Not so from a hungry Movistar, who still wanted more. Lippert started after the climb, taking advantage of a ‘repechero’ terrain, but neither she nor other runners who counterattacked later managed to open a gap for long. The curtain of this 34th edition was lowered with a new massive sprint, which this time ended up in the hands of Chiara Consonni. Coincidence of fate, the Italian also took the last stage of the race last year. Small respite from two weeks to see the most anticipated duel of the season: Van Vleuten against Vollering in the Tour de France.
Results of the 9th stage
1st Chiara Consonni (Ita/UAE ADQ)
2nd Marianne Vos (PBa/Jumbo) – mt
3rd Ally Wollaston (Aus/AG Insurance) – mt
Final General of the 34th Giro Donne
1st Annemiek van Vleuten (PBa/Movistar) – 9:00 p.m. 06:52
2nd Juliette Labous (Fra/DSM) – at 3:56
3rd Gaia Realini (Ita/Lidl) – 4:23
7th mavi garcia (Eng/ Liv Racing) – 6:25
10th Anne Santesteban (Jayco) – 9:12