So, the win in the end went to Kirsten Wild from Wiggle-High5, but it wasn’t a sure thing. Thanks to a brave and brilliant breakaway effort, the result was in doubt practically all the way to the line in Ovada.
VIDEO: @kirsten_wild takes the win in #GiroRosa Stage 2!! Brilliant effort by the team to chase the breakaway down in the final kilometers. "The girls went so fast! I felt like I had to win because they did such a hard job." #UCIWWT https://t.co/MOsdSB5Zrp pic.twitter.com/zQvAJNdWvZ
— Wiggle High5 (@WiggleHigh5) July 8, 2018
Stage 2 Review
On the first clockwise loop out of Ovada, the peloton kept things under control, with nobody managing to get clear. The spell was finally broken by Cylance’s Sheyla Gutierrez, just before the riders headed into town at the midway point.
The former Spanish champion built up a two-minute lead with no serious reaction from the main field, but they gradually took an interest as the day’s classified climb approached at Belforte Monferrato.
It was here that Alice Maria Arzuffi (Bizkaia Durango-Euskadi Murias) jumped across, and the lead shot up again to three minutes. Finally, the sprinters’ teams got organised and hacked away at the lead as the kilometers ticked by.
But Gutierrez and Arzuffi put up a huge fight and were only caught with 400 meters to go, as Alé Cipollini tried to set up Marta Bastianelli. Marianne Vos came through for Waowdeals with Giorgia Bronzini fighting for Cylance, but Wild stormed past to take the win. Both Leah Kirchmann and Lucinda Brand picked up bonus seconds on the route, putting the Dutch woman into the overall lead.
Thank you @teamsunweb girls for letting me take over the pink 🤗 will wear it with proud!!!https://t.co/14Mn81HF3L
— Lucinda Brand (@lucinda_brand) July 7, 2018
Gutierrez took the mountains jersey, Juliette Labous moved into the best young rider’s kit, while Wild took the points jersey.
Giro Rosa Stage 2, Ovada-Ovada, 132 kilometers
1 Kirsten Wild (Wiggle-High5) 3hrs 22’ 00”
2 Marianne Vos (Waowdeals)
3 Giorgia Bronzini (Cylance)
4 Marta Bastianelli (Alé Cipollini)
5 Amy Pieters (Boels-Dolmans)
6 Alexis Ryan (Canyon-SRAM)
7 Illaria Sanguinetti (Valcar PBM)
8 Roxanne Fournier (FDJ Nouvelle Futuroscope Aquitaine)
9 Amanda Spratt (Michelton-Scott)
10 Lucinda Brand (Sunweb) all same time
Overall after Stage 2
1 Lucinda Brand (Sunweb) 3hrs 40’ 22”
2 Leah Kirchmann (Sunweb)
3 Ellen Van Dijk (Sunweb) + 3”
4 Ruth Winder (Sunweb)
5 Juliette Labous (Sunweb)
6 Liane Lippert (Sunweb)
7 Julia Soek (Sunweb) same time
8 Amanda Spratt (Michelton-Scott) + 4”
9 Gracie Elvin (Michelton-Scott)
10 Annemiek Van Vleuten (Michelton-Scott) all same time