Sabrina Stultiens increases a couple of places in the general classification of the Giro Rosa following a great performance in the sixth stage, defined by a very brutal final with a 14-kilometre-long climb to the mountain village Gerola Alto. Sabrina arrived at the summit as eighth in a group of favourites for the general classification. Stage winner Amanda Spratt had crossed the finish line 35 seconds before.

On Wednesday noon, 149 riders embarked on an 111-kilometre-long stage. The attacks in the first two hours had little to no effect. As predicted, the sting was in the tail with an uphill finish, the first one in the Giro Rosa, more precisely in the mountain village Gerola Alto.

The peloton advanced in full speed towards the climb in the final. As frontrunners of the bunch, Riejanne Markus and Dani Rowe crossed the line first in the intermediate sprint at 19 kilometres from the finish. According to plan, Sabrina was dropped off five kilometres further down by her team mates at the foot of the mountain which has a gradient from 8 to 10%.

Due to the heavy pace, the riders with less climbing skills were quickly dropped. Sabrina was frolicking at the front of the peloton, amidst the favourites for the victory. Around ten riders survived, of which Amanda Spratt would eventually be the fastest. She broke away at 4 kilometres from the finish and stayed amazingly ahead. She also took the pink jersey.

The party for Spratt’s team got bigger when team mate Annemiek van Vleuten took the second place half a minute later. She was followed by a group of GC riders, including Sabrina. Our leader crossed the finish as eighth, increasing again a couple of places in the general classification, after having moved up sixteen places yesterday.

“Thumbs up for the entire team”, says Jeroen Blijlevens. “Not much was happening in the first part of the stage, although the pace was constantly high. We have shown again today that we are a team, having positioned Sabrina as well as possible at the climb with several riders at the front of the peloton. Afterwards, it was up to her to beat the mountain.”

Climb time trial
The course profile of the Giro Rosa remains hilly with more climbing on Thursday, this time in an individual time trial. The riders ride from Lanzada to the mountain lake Campo Moro over a distance of fifteen kilometres. “Time trialling is usually not Sabrina’s favourite discipline, but a climb time trial will be different. We hope she will have a good day”, says Jeroen Blijlevens.