Women’s Giro Rosa 2020 Stage 4 Preview – Tips, Contenders, Profile

Another day in the Giro Rosa and Stage 4 sees another uphill finish! Stage 4’s finish shouldn’t be as steep as the finish of yesterday’s Stage 3 as it’s 2km at 7.9% average. It’s also missing the super-tough double-digit gradients. The first 1km of the climb is the toughest and the final 1km is less steep in comparison. It’s going to an interesting battle to see people attack early and try and hang on against those riders who wait a bit before giving their all. The long story short of the stage though, it should be a puncheur day once again and a remarkably similar preview to Stage 3.

Teams

• Mitchelton-Scott
• Ale BTC Ljubljana
• Aromitalia Vaiano
• Astana
• BePink
• Bizkaia Durango
• Boels-Dolmans
• Canyon SRAM
• CCC-Liv
• Ceratizit-WNT
• Cogeas-Mettler
• Cronos Casa Dorada
• Paule Ka
• Eurotarget-Bianchi-Vittoria
• FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope
• Lotto Soudal Ladies
• Lviv Cycling
• Movistar
• Servetto-Piumate-Beltrami TSA
• Team Sunweb
• Top Girls Fassa Bortolo
• Trek-Segafredo
• Valcar

Women’s Giro Rosa 2020 Stage 4 Profile

Women’s Giro Rosa 2020 Stage 4 Favourites

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig appears to be back in form after finishing 4th on Stage 2. On what was the 2nd Strade Bianche of the 2020 season, she stuck with the chase behind Annemiek van Vleuten. She was also 2nd on Stage 3 too. Another uphill punchy finish gives her a shot at a Giro Rosa stage win. Kasia Neiwiadoma is in the same boat. Unlike Uttrup Ludwig, she was in great form in France recently so it was no surprise that she finished 3rd on Stage 2. She even managed to catch back up to Van der Breggen at the end, so only lost time to Van Vleuten. Now 3rd on GC, she’ll be looking to get a stage win and consolidate her podium placing, even though she missed out in Assini.

Anna van der Breggen was 2nd on Stage 2 as we’d expect. She’d probably be a little bit disappointed to lose that much time to Van Vleuten but it is what it is against the current best in the world. Stage 3 and Stage 4 are great stages for Van der Breggen to show off how she gained the Queen of the Ardennes nickname. Short, steep uphill sprints are her thing. I’d been waiting for Mikayla Harvey to make that jump into the top-10 of a major race, which she achieved on Stage 2 after some recent near misses. She was 7th, just behind Moolman and Garcia, good company to be in! She should be near the top-10 once again here. Spaniard Ane Santesteban also did well on Stage 2 by finishing 12th. She’s slightly punchier than her teammate Magnaldi. She finished 10th in the Emakumeen Saria earlier this season amongst most of these top riders.

Sunweb’s Liane Lippert prefers a punchier finish rather than the relentless climbing of Stage 2. She finished a respectably 26th that day but her focus will be on the two days that follow. She took 4th in Stage 3 so should do well again. The GOAT Marianne Vos can never be ignored, especially after winning Stage 3. Hopes of a 3rd Giro Rosa Overall win are probably gone after finishing 4 and a half minutes behind Van Vleuten on Stage 2. If we learned anything from the 2019 Giro Rosa, it’s that Vos can never ever be ruled out of an uphill finish like this, even if someone (Lucy Kennedy for example) thinks they’ve got the stage won already.

Elisa Longo Borghini got to wear the pink jersey for the first time in her illustrious career after Stage 1’s team time trial. Some were slightly disappointed that she lost so much time on Stage 2, particularly after being one of the first riders to give chase to Van Vleuten on the gravel. She’s got some work to do to get back into the top-10, but finished strongly on Stage 3 to finish 3rd. Lizzie Deignan surprisingly lost around 11 minutes on Stage 2, which given the form she’s in shouldn’t have been possible. It would make sense to be a tactical rest ahead of a proper go at the uphill finishes in the middle of the Giro Rosa like this one or a longer breakaway later.

Just like on Stage 3, there are others who can do these finishes better. Yet Annemiek van Vleuten won’t be caught out and lose time to her rivals. She’s slightly less favourable to win these sorts of stages but she’s already got the advantage in the GC battle. Teammate Amanda Spratt might be able to strike out and take a chance at a stage win instead. She’s still around in the GC battle as she looks to finish on the podium again.

Mavi Garcia was 6th on Stage 2 as she had another solid day on the gravel roads in Italy. Not quite as good as her 2nd in Strade Bianche but she’s into her 2nd week of stage racing. CCC’s Ashleigh Moolman finished with her and has become their undisputed GC leader. She’s got a lot of work to do to get back into podium contention but the uphill finishes like this do suit her as well. The other main Ceratizit-WNT option is Erica Magnaldi who was 9th on Stage 2. She’s a bit more of an out and out climber compared to teammate Santesteban but she’ll need to continue placing well to break into the top-10 overall.

Women’s Giro Rosa 2020 Stage 4 Outsiders

I keep pushing Rasa Leleivyte as a contender on this sort of steep finish. Really it’s the same logic as on Stage 3, it’s an uphill finish and she did great in the Giro dell’Emilia finish with 2nd place. She’s not in the GC hunt at all, so stage wins are her focus. Young Italian Elena Franchi was 22nd on Stage 2, just ahead of the group containing Lippert, Van Dijk and Mackaij. She’s not as far back on GC as Leleivyte but this sort of short steep finish will suit her too.

Lizzy Banks will now probably be put into a role to help Harvey retain the white jersey and the overall GC. She might also get the chance to hunt out a stage win. She was 16th on Stage 2, so placed well but 6 minutes behind. This uphill finish is one she can do well at, even if it’s just to set up Harvey. Marta Cavalli finished in a similar place to Banks on Stage 2, 19th on the day and a few seconds later. She found herself 5th in the Emakumeen Saria, beating Moolman, Spratt and Garcia. She does best though when there’s a flat sprint after a late climb.

Finally, Movistar’s Paula Patiño was the highest finishing rider on that team on Stage 2 and another that finished in the late-teens like Banks and Cavalli. After a strong Tour de l’Ardeche, with 3 top-10 finishes, there’s some quiet hype about what she can achieve.

Stage Prediction

1st
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig
2nd
Marianne Vos
3rd
Anna van der Breggen