After two days in the mountains of the mainland, followed by a rest day, the Giro Donne picked up again on the island of Sardinia for the penultimate stage 8. A day of rolling hills awaited the riders on a day that was touted as a sprint finish.
With the fastest woman in the peloton, Lorena Wiebes, having left the race after stage 6 to prepare for the Tour de France Femmes, the sprint was a much more open affair than it may have been if the European Champion was present.
Newly-crowned US national champion, Chloé Dygert, was amongst the pre-stage favourites and was looking strong heading into the finish as her Canyon-SRAM teammates led her out for the sprint.
When it came down to the drag race to the line, however, Dygert was unable to match the speed of Wiebes’ teammate, Blanka Vas and the Hungarian champion took the stage win.
Dygert, who came into the Giro Donne with ambitions for both GC and stage wins, suffered a bruised sacrum after crashing in the rained-off opening ITT and said she was disappointed with the outcome of stage 8.
“The team did a really good lead-out for me so I’m really bummed I wasn’t able to pull it off for them,” she said after the stage. “It was a hard day out there, it was very hot, so to be able to come away with a podium at the end of the day is nice for us.”
Dygert has one last chance at a stage victory on Sunday’s final stage 9 from Sassari to Olbia, which features a similar profile to stage 8. The 26-year-old was reluctant to state any intentions to go for the win, however, citing her injury from stage 1.
“I think it just depends. I think I’m still struggling with some injury from the crash on the first day so maybe a day for the team, maybe a day for me, it just depends on what we decide to do for tomorrow,” she said.
Stage 8 was Dygert’s second podium of her debut Giro Donne as the American continues her return to WorldTour racing after a series of injuries and health issues that have plagued her career since 2019.
She has already secured a victory this season, on stage 2 of the RideLondon Classique as well as national titles in both the road race and time trial.
