Giro Rosa stage 2: Annemiek van Vleuten overcomes crash to win in Arcidosso

Saturday’s stage of the Giro Rosa ended in a scene that’s become familiar in the past few months: Annemiek van Vleuten crossing the finish line with arms raised by herself.

Van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott), the two-time defending champion, held off countrywoman Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) to take a convincing win and to take the pink leader’s jersey.

“I went so deep because you never know what’s coming, you have to take every second,” van Vleuten said afterward.

The victory was hardly guaranteed for van Vleuten, the reigning road cycling world champion. Much of the stage was held on gravel roads similar to what the riders face in Strade Bianche, and van Vleuten suffered a small crash during the exciting finale.

The setback came on the course’s most treacherous climb, the gravel ascent of Seggiano. Van Vleuten slipped out on a loose section of gravel and then struggled to get back on her bicycle. She pushed the bike on foot for several meters before a neutral service worker helped her remount. At that point, she held a 30 second lead over van der Breggen.

Despite the fall, van Vleuten pushed on to the finish.

“I went from the bottom to take as much time as possible because this Giro we don’t have uphill finishes so maybe it can be a second game in the end, and every second can be useful,” van Vleuten said. “It was a time trial from the start of the gravel section.”

Van Vleuten crossed the line with a minute advantage on van der Breggen, with Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) in third.

Saturday’s second stage began to heat up midway through the 124-kilometer route when Lotto Soudal’s Julie van der Velde attacked with 60 kilometers. She confidently held the lead for 25 k before a chase group composed of Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit–WNT Pro Cycling), Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo), Elise Chabbey (Équipe Paule Ka), and Alison Jackson (Team Sunweb) bridged the gap. Then, Lizzy Banks opened up a counter-attack and gained 30 seconds on the group.

Nevertheless, it was on the four-kilometer gravel ascent of Seggiano where the drama truly unfolded. Just 12 km from the finish line in Arcidosso, the climb is notoriously bumpy and rough.

Van Vleuten and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig led a group of 25 up the treacherous gravel ascent. With less than 14 km to go, Uttrup Ludwig attacked. Then, just below the summit, things went as expected: the world champion jumped off the front.

After Saturday’s stage van Vleuten takes the maglia rosa from Trek-Segafredo’s Elisa Longo Borghini. Wearing pink in Italy is something the world champion is intimately familiar with, yet with seven days of difficult racing remaining, van Vleuten knows that nothing is guaranteed.

“It’s always very special in Italy to wear it but there’s so many days to come, so I’m not thinking about pink,” she said. “I will just race as I always do and focus day by day.