After Lauren Kitchen's long breakaway in stage 7, Anouska Koster defended WM3 Pro Cycling's colours on Friday by choosing to attack. The Friesian chased escapee Tetyana Riabchenko fora long time. She could however not close the gap and was caught in the final kilometres. 

The Giro Rosa’s organisation had another long stage in store for the peloton on Friday (nearly 142 kilometres). The remaining 147 riders raced from Baronissi to Centola and reached Cuccaro Vetere after 113 kilometres. This climb of 2nd category is this year’s top of the Italian stage race. As in previous stages, the temperature was well above 30°C.

In pursuit
The first hour of the race was with an average of 43 kilometres/hour very fast which did not leave much room for breakaways even though some riders tried. The first uncategorized climb marked kilometer 58. Even though the climb was not indicated as such in the roadbook, the hill made indeed some victims despite the not so jagged profile. Many riders were dropped, leaving the peloton with around 40 riders at the summit.

Once the top was reached, the front group started to attack. Anouska Koster was in pursuit of Tetyana Riabchenko for several dozens of kilometres, most of the time together with Janneke Ensing and Lucinda Brand who joined somewhat later. The gap remained for a long time around 1 minute and 20 seconds. Lucinda Brand, one of the best descenders, got away in the descent of the Cuccaro Vetere and caught up with Riabchenko even though Brand had crashed in the meantime. Brand dropped the Ukrainian in the final kilometres.

Kasia perseveres
Anouska was picked up by the peloton not far from the finish line. The overall defenders made themselves heard in the descent of the Cuccaro Vetere. Kasia Niewiadome (7th) crossed the finish line in the same time as the pink jersey leader Anna van der Breggen. She remains 6th in the general classification at a little over 4 minutes from van der Breggen.