The Canadian climber impresses with an excellent performance in her debut Giro d’Italia.
The plan in the Lidl-Trek camp was once again to search for the breakaway, or even instigate them, whilst Bella Holmgren would aim to follow the GC riders through the hilly parcours to the showdown on Monte Nerone.
With 85km of the 150km stage still to go Shirin van Anrooij went clear of the peloton with Ostolaza [Laboral Kutxa] in pursuit of Geurts [Visma Lease-a-Bike] who had escaped earlier. The three riders joined together after a nearly 30km chase and combined well over the lumpy terrain. However, with 29km to the finish, Shirin made the move to forge ahead alone, undeterred by the almost 15km long mountain that loomed in front. It was a brave move, but a necessary one in pursuit of the stage win.
Shirin was climbing well, taking a measured pace in order to not go over her limits. But, behind her attacks began from the GC group, and with fresher legs from having ridden within the peloton all day, it was only a matter of time before Shirin was caught by the attackers – Longo Borghini and Gigante. Nevertheless, it was a commendable effort by the Dutchwoman.
Back in the GC group, Bella had been saving her legs as much as possible thanks to the guidance of her experienced teammates. The group was whittled down as the gradient continued to pitch up, and eventually Bella was one of just six riders left in the pink jersey group. With first and second places already claimed by the attackers, Bella gave her last push in the closing meters of the stage to close out the podium, a hugely impressive feat for anyone, but even more so for the 20-year-old Canadian riding her first major stage race.
With one stages left to come, Bella now sits in 7th overall, up two places after today’s performance.
I'm feeling really good, it was a really nice day with the whole team. Shirin was in the break for a very long time and in the GC group it was just like a pretty hard, steady pace the whole time. I think there were a few attacks because, yeah, it's the seventh day and everyone's a little cooked I think, so it was just mainly a hard pace from the bottom. I've really been enjoying the racing and spending time with the team and I just really love it, so I couldn't be happier.
