Giro d’Italia Donne: Blanka Vas powers to victory on stage 8 uphill finish

Blanka Vas (SD Worx) proved the fastest on the uphill finish of stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia Donne, sprinting out of a reduced bunch to claim victory in Sassari, her first stage win in a Grand Tour.

The Hungarian champion came round a fast Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) who had had the best lead-out but couldn't quite hold it to the line, whilst Liane Lippert (Movistar) finished in third.

On a stage that would have suited her perfectly, Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) was hampered by a mechanical and finished 10th, so has only one more chance to win a stage at this Giro and add to her record-breaking tally.

On the first of two final stages in Sardinia, it was a hot and aggressive day, with a long fight for any moves to go, and then almost constant attacks in the final 30km as opportunists tried to deny the sprinters. None of the aggressors quite succeeded though, and it came down to an uphill drag to the line between a reduced but large bunch.

Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) finished safely in the front group to retain the pink jersey, with no major movement in the overall standings.

“It’s unbelievable,” Vas said at the finish. “In the morning I didn’t think I could win, so I’m really happy.

“I had fun during the race, and my teammates were cheering into the radio in the sprint. I felt their trust in me, so I went for it.”

Racing recap

A lumpy day that was slated as a possible chance for the breakaway, there was a flurry of attacks as soon as the flag was dropped, but nothing managed to go clear. UAE Team ADQ were the ones controlling things and pulling riders back, as they wanted to set up Erica Magnaldi for the intermediate sprint. By winning the intermediate sprint - which carried bonus seconds - the Italian jumped up from fifth to fourth on GC, leapfrogging Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) by one second.

After the sprint, it continued to be aggressive but no real groups formed, although the relentless pace and hot weather meant the peloton was constantly shrinking. With just under 50km to go, on one of the many uncategorised rises of the day, the first riders managed to get away when Floortje Mackaij (Movistar) and Silvia Magri (Israel-Premier Tech Roland) attacked, the pink jersey team clearly happy to let one of their own go, and the pair pulled out around a minute’s lead.

When they hit the only categorised climb of the day with 30km to go, Mackaij dropped Magri, but on the next short rise the attacks from the peloton saw the Dutchwoman swept up. It was Ewers, Francesca Barale (dsm-firmenich) and Fisher-Black (SD Worx) who were trying to get away with 26km to go, but the podium battle meant that Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) spurred into action to close the gap. The next move came from Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM) and Mavi García (Liv Racing TeqFind), later joined by a handful of riders including Vas, Anouska Koster (Uno-X) and Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick Step), but with a lot of teams keen to keep things together for a sprint, this group was brought back before the finish.

In the final kilometres, two Fenix-Deceuninck riders were briefly off the front as Inge van der Heijden tried to set up Carina Schrempf, but they went too early and were soon rounded by the flying reduced group. Sarah Roy (Canyon-SRAM) took up the lead-out for Chloé Dygert in the final kilometre, and the American was on the front almost to the line, but it was a fast-finishing Vas who came round on the left to cross the line first, ahead of Dygert in second and Lippert in third.

This is her second WorldTour win after taking the opening stage of the Tour de Suisse, and SD Worx’s second victory in this Giro.

Vos crossed the line in frustration after a mechanical issue hampered her sprint, whilst pink jersey Annemiek van Vleuten finished in the reduced bunch to safely retain her overall lead, with no major changes on the GC.