Giro Rosa: Moolman-Pasio Fifth On Stage 5
Stage 5 of the Giro Rosa saw the first mountaintop finish as the race finished in Aprica. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio crossed the line in fifth place on the stage. The day was won by world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Rabo-Liv) who attacked with 3 kilometres to go. She got a maximum lead of 15 seconds and maintained a 1 second advantage across the line.
Maglia Rosa leader Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) was second followed by Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv).
“Today was another great team effort,” Moolman-Pasio said at the end. “The girls did an excellent job at looking after me. It was a dangerous stage in that it wasn’t the hardest climb to the top but it meant that it could possibly be a day for a breakaway to stay away.”
The stage started fast with Sarah Roy (Orica-AIS) getting the first gap of the day. However, she was reeled in and later 19 riders escaped. Boels-Dolmans of race leader Guarnier took it upon themselves to bring the move back. As the race made its way to the climb, it was all together except for a lone leader maintaining a small advantage.
“When we hit the final climb, I was very well supported by Annemiek [van Vleuten] and Joëlle [Numainville]. I felt really good up the climb. It wasn’t too steep but there were a few attacks. There was a point where Pauline got away but she never really got a big gap. Anna and Megan took a few seconds on the line but GC mostly stays the same. We’re looking forward to the next few stages where it just gets tougher and tougher as the days go by,” Moolman-Pasio concluded.
The South African national champion remains third overall in the classification trailing Guarnier by 12 seconds. Unfortunately Doris Schweizer was unable to take to the start as she failed to recover from injuries sustained by a crash the previous day.
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