Victory for Monte Matajur to play at the Giro d’Italia Donne – Preview

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After a few days marked by sprints, the Giro d’Italia Donne returns to the mountains for the penultimate stage on Saturday, offering the riders one last opportunity to improve their position in the general classification. Stage 9 includes more than 2,200 meters of elevation gain and three classified climbs, the “queen†stage of the longest tour of the women’s calendar ending on Monte Matajur at 1,267 meters above sea level.

Monte Matajur is a mountain in the Julian Alps on the border between Italy and Slovenia, with a peak at 1645 meters above sea level. However, the paved road ends at Rifugio Pelizzo at 1294 meters where stage 9 ends after a climb of 13.9 kilometers. The average incline is 7.7 percent, but the climb is very irregular.

The first two kilometers are not particularly steep, but are followed by one kilometer with an average of nine percent. The sixth mile of the climb is even steeper than the 10.2% before the grade drops to 6-9%. The last four kilometers are the most difficult, almost continuously above nine percent and often above ten percent. The last mile is 11%.

Maglia rosa Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx) is definitely out of reach, and so are probably the other podiums, currently occupied by Van der Breggen teammates Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio at 2:55 minutes behind and Demi Vollering at 3:07 minutes.

But while there is nearly three minutes difference between Vollering and Lizzie Deignan, fourth in Trek-Segafredo, at 5:56 a.m., less than two minutes separate Deignan from Marta Cavalli (11th) (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope), who is 7:52 minutes behind the race leader.

This means that the top ten and even the top five are still up for grabs. Riders from the home country will also compete for the prestigious blue jersey for the best Italian rider. Erica Magnaldi (Ceratizit-WNT), sixth overall at 6:39 minutes, Tatiana Guderzo d’Alé BTC Ljubljana is ninth overall at 7:28 minutes, Cavalli and Gaia Realini, 20 years old (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria), who is riding his first Giro Donne and finishing 12th overall at 8:27 minutes, all will try to get rid of their compatriots on the difficult climb.

Glory of the Monte Matajur stage

Giro d'Italia Donne - Stage profile 9

Giro d’Italia Donne – Stage profile 9 – Monte Matajur (Image credit: Giro d’Italia Donne / PMG Sport)

Despite all the ambitions of the GC, a stage victory on such a difficult climb carries prestige in itself, and with a huge cushion in GC, Van der Breggen does not need to save even more time.

The two-time world champion is well known for helping her teammates reward them for their support, for example she was crucial for Chantal van den Broek-Blaak’s victory in the 2020 Tour of Flanders and Demi Vollering’s victory in Liège-Bastogne this year. -Cork.

Moolman-Pasio is an excellent climber who does not have many chances to win in the women’s calendar, however. The 35-year-old South African has yet to win a Women’s WorldTour race, and it’s conceivable that the team will hatch a plan to send her to the road to win the stage, still leaving Van der Breggen a broad support in the form of Vollering and Niamh Fisher-Black, who is tenth overall at 7:50 minutes.

SD Worx could even try to send Fisher-Black, the best youngster in the race, on a breakaway in the second category climb to Stregna, 41 kilometers from the finish, either as a springboard for Moolman-Pasio, or to leave the the young New Zealander herself competes for the stage victory.

Italian champion Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) is one of the few riders who can thwart Team SD Worx’s plans. She has recovered well from a bad day on stage 2, starting in a breakaway with Moolman-Pasio on stage 6 then finishing second in stage 7, and will be eager to be the first Italian winner of stage of the 2021 edition.

There are also a handful of other capable climbers who won’t want to leave empty-handed from the Giro d’Italia Donne; Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange), Clara Koppenburg (Rally Cycling) and Mikayla Harvey (Canyon-SRAM) are just a few riders who have the potential to rise to the top with stage victory.

There is also the green jersey for the best climber yet to be won. Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) currently leads the mountain standings with 32 points after collecting points in the breakaways of stages 3 and 7. Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) is second with 20 points, followed by Liane Lippert (Team DSM) with 18 points.

Brand is 24 minutes behind in the overall standings, and an attack might just be the best form of defense for her – entering a breakaway before Stregna’s climb would allow her to pick up another seven mountain points and not have to s worry about the first category final climb which brings 13 points to the winner of the stage.

Chabbey could try the same, of course, with the added advantage that she also sits fifth overall at 6:27 minutes, just 31 seconds behind teammate Brand Deignan.

Whatever the course of the stage, it is certain that the penultimate stage of the Giro Donne will be another exciting finish at the top of Monte Matajur.

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