After five stages of the Giro d’Italia Women the GC race is extremely close. With an individual time trial, two sprint stages and two climbing days complete, just one and a half minutes separates the top-10 riders going into the final, mountainous weekend.
Elisa Longo Borghini took hold of the maglia rosa after the first stage – an individual time trial in which she claimed a dominant victory – and has held onto it since, fending off myriad attacks from Lotte Kopecky who sits second overall. The pair went head-to-head in a teeth-gritting sprint to the line on Wednesday’s stage after Kopecky tried to distance Longo Borghini on the final climb but the Italian was glued to the world champion’s wheel.
Kopecky, who took second overall at the Tour de France Femmes last year, has proven terrifyingly good at this race so far. After narrowly losing out in a sprint to Chiara Consonni on stage two the world champion went on to finish second behind teammate Niamh Fisher Black on the mountainous finish of stage three. After battling with Longo Borghini on stage four’s finish up to cobbled town square in Urbino, Kopecky went on to convincingly take victory in stage five’s sprint finish, claiming 10 bonus seconds in the process. After five stages the Belgian rider now sits just three seconds behind the maglia rosa of Longo Borghini.
Kopecky has been in superb form, dominantly winning the stage five sprint
Behind Kopecky, there are a number of strong climbers and GC riders who sit at just under one minute back. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, who has spent the last few months on the comeback from a broken sacrum sustained at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, is just 38 seconds behind Longo Borghini. Juliette Labous sits behind the Danish rider at 49 seconds but would be current third place were it not for an unfortunate 20 second time penalty that was handed to her after taking a bottle too late in the stage on Wednesday.
AG Insurance - Soudal’s Kim Le Court has been the revelation of the race, showing her considerable climbing talent to ride herself into fifth overall heading into the final three stages. Just one second separates the current white jersey wearer, Antonia Niedermaier and stage three winner Niamh Fisher Black, at 1:06 and 1:07 respectively. Likewise there is just one single second between Mavi Garcia at 1:33 and Katrine Aalerud and Pauliena Rooijakkers at 1:34 – the latter of whom was also handed a 20-second time penalty on stage one after her director’s car was too close during the time trial.
With the three hardest stages of the race still to come, however, the general classification picture could look considerably different by the end of Sunday’s stage. Stage six is the longest of the race at 159km and while there isn’t one single headline climb of the day the stage consists of a relentless procession of up-and-down throughout which if raced attritionally could force gaps. It is Saturday’s queen stage, with a summit finish atop the Blockhaus climb however, that will sort the order of things.
Longo Borghini remains favourite to claim pink on Sunday
Kopecky has proven herself capable of pulling off climbing performances such as her ride up the Col du Tourmalet in the 2023 Tour but with three successive days in the mountains to come, taking the pink jersey would be an exceptional feat for the 28-year-old. If Kopecky does succumb to the steep slopes of Blockhaus her team, SD Worx, have a second rider ready to take up the leadership mantle in the form of Niamh Fisher Black, who is more at home in the mountains. Still, the world champion has already shown herself to be in excellent climbing form at this race and her talents are spread across so many terrains that the possibility of her continuing to battle for the maglia rosa with Longo Borghini and others cannot be ruled out.
Longo Borghini remains the favourite to take home the maglia rosa. The Italian champion has a strong team of mountain domestiques around her and appears to have stepped up to another level in 2024 after a turbulent 2023 season. However, the climbers who are within reach on GC such as Uttrup Ludwig, Niedermaier, Garcia and Rooijakkers will be doing everything in their power to try and distance the likes of Longo Borghini and Kopecky in the higher mountains of stages seven and eight.
With three stages to go, the Giro d’Italia Women is still anyone’s race.
