Clara Emond (EF-Oatly-Cannondale) won stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia Women, 17 seconds ahead of Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM) and 20 seconds ahead of Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez).
The Canadian had gone on the chase after the early breakaway together with Tota Magalhães (BePink-Bongioanni) with more than 90km to the finish. They reached the front group with 81km to go, and Emond dropped her four companions on the climb through San Marino with 47km to go to continue solo.
Going into the final 20km with a gap of 1:38 minutes on a chase group of around 15 riders, Emond paced herself on the climb to Urbino and could enjoy the final climb through the medieval town safe in the knowledge that she would win the stage.
In the peloton, Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) tried to gain time on overall leader Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) on the last kilometre, but the maglia rosa fought back and crossed the line ahead of her rival, 1:08 minutes down on the stage winner.
“The first stages didn’t go how we wanted, so today the goal was to be super aggressive and bounce back. I took a chance at the beginning, I kept attacking, and at some point, it went. I knew that if I would go with a short advantage in the climb, I could hold on, but I thought that they would catch me at some point, but they never did," said Emond, proud of her first-ever professional win.
"I really started to believe in it in the last climb, and it feels really special to have my first win ever here at the Giro.
“This is going to help me have more confidence. I started cycling a bit late, later than other riders, and I was always lacking that confidence without having ever achieved any top results, so I think it’s going to help me to build confidence in myself and in my team as well,” she concluded, commenting about what the victory would mean for her career going forward.
How it unfolded
The first 80km of the 134-kilometre stage were flat, but after crossing the border into San Marino, a 5.5km second-category climb awaited the riders. Back in Italy, the Monte Osteriaccia climb consisted of two ramps of about 3km each, separated by a short descent, followed by a long but gradual climb to Urbino that end with a steep finishing climb on stone-slab streets, reminiscent of the Strade Bianche finish in Siena.
Carmela Cipriani (BePink-Bongioanni), Silvia Zanardi (Human Powered Health), and Alice Palazzi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) formed the early break, having attacked with 110km to go. When Emond and Magalhães bridged to them, the peloton was 3:20 minutes behind, and this gap grew to over five minutes with 66km to go.
On the San Marino climb, Emond and Magalhães dropped the other three riders, and Emond left Magalhães behind in the descent to start her long solo. In the peloton, a group of 15 riders got away on the same climb.
This chase group quickly passed Cipriani, Zanardi, and Palazzi as well as Magalhães, and Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) attacked over the top of the Monte Osteriaccia, followed by Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ). Further back, Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) made a move from the peloton.
Helped by her teammate Justine Ghekiere who dropped back from the chase group, Le Court bridged a two-minute gap to what remained of the chase, joining Elena Cecchini (SD Worx-Protime), Elisa Valtulini (BePink-Bongioanni), Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM), Uttrup Ludwig, Giada Borghesi (Human Powered Health), Jelena Erić (Movistar Team), and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility) with just over 20km to go.
Emond looked exhausted on the steady climb to Urbino, and her advantage over the chasers got smaller and smaller, but she had enough of a head start to win the stage by 17 seconds. Behind her, Chabbey and Magnaldi were caught again with 6km to go, and an attack by Uttrup Ludwig was joined by Le Court, Borghesi, Erić, Paladin, and Chabbey.
Uttrup Ludwig and Le Court set the pace in this group, trying to take as much time as possible in the general classification, and Paladin then attacked on the steep final kilometre to take second place on the stage.
In the peloton, Kopecky also made her move on the finishing climb, but Longo Borghini held her own against the world champion and came past on the last metres, defending her leader’s jersey. On top of her stage victory, Emond also took the lead in the mountain classification and will wear the blue jersey on stage 5.
Results
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