The Kiwi climber finished second on the final stage of the Giro d'Italia Women while Lidl-Trek took the sprint, young rider and team classification home
The final curtain has drawn on a spectacular edition of the Giro d’Italia Women. Lidl-Trek started and finished the week on a high, beginning with three consecutive stage wins for Elisa Balsamo who showed her outstanding sprinting speed. A tough mountain time trial brought yet more success for the team, with Isabella Holmgren taking the white jersey as best young rider and Niamh Fisher-Black also finishing inside the top-10. A fourth Balsamo victory followed on stage six and from then on, it was about defending and bettering the positions of the squad’s climbers, as well as fighting to protect the maglia bianca.
Despite a shortened queen stage due to snowfall on the Finestre, Holmgren excelled on stage eight with a second place finish atop the fabled mountain in challenging conditions, with Fisher-Black close behind. The Canadian rider’s lead in the white jersey competition was significant going into the final day, with everything to play for in the general classification for both Holmgren and Fisher-Black.
Photo by Luc Claessen/Getty Images
As expected, the stage to Saluzzo exploded with GC teams taking their chances to attack the race leader, Anna van der Breggen. Lidl-Trek’s climbers stayed alert to the danger on the early ascents and were both present in the group of favourites, despite a blistering pace. Fisher-Black followed moves made on the top of the Montoso climb and found herself in a breakaway with two other riders. It was a long effort to the finish for the Kiwi rider who worked well with her companions to build a sizeable lead on the chasing group. Holmgren was in the third group on the road limiting her losses while also ensuring her lead in the white jersey competition was secure.
In the approach to the finish, Fisher-Black positioned herself well in the front group, preparing herself to sprint for the stage victory. She made a strong effort and was just narrowly pipped on the line by Demi Vollering, who also took the overall GC at the Giro d’Italia Women.
Behind, Holmgren came in ninth place on the stage, giving her seventh place overall and the white jersey, while Fisher-Black jumped to fifth on GC. Thanks to her stage wins earlier in the week, Balsamo took home the sprints classification, and Lidl-Trek also won the best team classification overall.
It was a week of attacking, clever and brave racing from our women’s squad who will only take confidence from their achievements at the Giro to build for the rest of the season.
Photo by Luc Claessen/Getty Images
In Niamh's words
The stage was pretty open from the first climb but we expected it would be because after yesterday I think the GC girls couldn’t do much else. It was clear that Vollering and Van der Breggen were looking at each other and there were some attacks, I knew it was a good moment after the climb and I felt good. From there, it was just a long day in the saddle and it was about coming to the finish trying not to think about the big GC race happening behind. I tried to think about going for a stage win and unfortunately I had to settle for second but I tried what I could in a sprint which isn’t my forte. But I’m happy with how I did it.
It’s been a really good week for us with four stage wins and we’ve been so successful, which is something we can be really proud of. our young rider, Bella, had a really strong ride and she can be really proud of that. It is no coincidence that we won the team classification, we had a really strong showing from the whole team and I think we definitely were in a really good position with the cards we had to play, both in the GC and on the sprint days, and the days we went for the breakaway. We can be incredibly happy with this week and we will just carry this as motivation for the next races.
