16 September 2020

Marianne Vos wins again at Giro Rosa as Annemiek van Vleuten retains overall lead

Marianne Vos took her second stage win of the 2020 Giro Rosa as Annemiek van Vleuten retained her overall lead on stage five.

The three-time world champion sprinted to victory from a final group of 50 ahead of Lotte Kopecky in second and Lizzie Deignan in third.

Van Vleuten finished safely in the peloton at the end of stage five (Twitter: @selle_smp)

Italian Elisa Longo Borghini tried her luck on the final climb of the day and caused panic in the peloton up to the final few kilometres.

But once the Trek-Segafredo rider was reeled in, Vos proved why she remains the woman to beat in fast finishes as she claimed her 27th career victory in the Italian stage race.

Speaking after the race, she said: "I had good memories already here and I have to say it was not an easy stage with the climb and we tried to make it hard.

"My teammates did a really hard pace on the climb to split the field … and I am very happy to finish it off."

Meanwhile in the battle for the general classification, Van Vleuten was untroubled on Tuesday as she navigated her way to the line in the reduced peloton and kept her lead of one minute and 56 seconds from Katarzyna Niewiadoma.

Van Vleuten’s compatriot Anna van der Breggen currently occupies the final step on the podium 2:03 down, with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig fourth a further minute adrift.

Van Vleuten is looking to become the first woman in more than 20 years to win the Giro Rosa three years in a row.

Wednesday’s stage looks set to be another for Vos and the rest of the sprinters in the peloton, before two hillier days racing and the final 110km mountainous finale on Saturday.

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