The Dutch rider powered to second from the break on stage seven
The question on everyone’s lips ahead of stage seven of the Giro d’Italia Women was whether we would see another sprint finish or if a breakaway would make it to the line. After yesterday’s bunch kick won by Elisa Balsamo, Lidl-Trek knew there was another chance for the Italian to take a fifth victory of the race, but it would be a tall order for the team to keep things together until the stage reached its conclusion. There was also a third category climb to contend with in the final 50-kilometers which was a springboard for attacks.
Lidl-Trek remained attentive when the early breakaway was established and it built a healthy advantage of almost five minutes. In the approach to the climb, Fleur Moors and Amanda Spratt did some impressive work to reduce the time gap and by the summit, the bunch was almost back together. Things began to split, however, on the technical descent before the flat section of road to the finish. A group of six riders found themselves clear including Lucinda Brand, Lidl-Trek’s experienced and skillful road captain. With Balsamo in the peloton behind her, Brand was able to sit at the back of the break in the final 12-kilometers until the race reached its conclusion.
In the closing few hundred meters to the line, Brand decided to launch an attack and strike out for the stage victory. She timed her move well and got a small gap, but ultimately was overtaken by Celia Gery of FDJ-Suez just before she crossed the finish. This left Brand with a second place finish on stage 7 – another strong result in an outstanding week for Lidl-Trek.
Tomorrow, the race will reach the queen stage and it will be a showdown in the mountains for Niamh Fisher-Black and Isabella Holmgren (white jersey wearer) who currently sit seventh and fourth on the general classification. Balsamo still holds on to the sprint jersey and has a sizeable lead in that competition.
Photo: Anouk Flesch
In Lucinda's words
Everyone was looking at us today because we have the fastest sprinter but we also have stage wins already, so it wasn’t only up to us. Fleur and Spratty did an amazingly strong job bringing the gap down on such a hard course because there was a lot of headwinds and it was intense when we got to the hilly part, it was a really hard course and everyone wanted to be in front.
When we got to the descent we were good in the front and I saw two riders took off, so I tried to bring myself safely down to make sure I could still come there and it worked out. Elisa Longo Borghini came across and was a good motor in the breakaway and that made the chase behind us quite hard. In the end I tried not to do anything in this group and only focused on getting the best possible result. I knew it would be hard with Gery in the break there as I know her well from cyclocross and how fast she is. We did have some fight but I think she had the best position and the fastest legs.
Of course, I wanted to bring home another win, also for the hard work of our teammates in front all day and the whole week, but we can also be happy with second. Now, all eyes on climbing.
