Women’s Giro Rosa 2020 Stage 9 Preview – Tips, Contenders, Profile

Stage 9 is the final stage of this year’s Giro Rosa. We’ve seen some great racing and some heart-breaking crashes along the way. Stage 9 is firmly a GC contest and may see some big swings in the general classification. With the unfortunate demise of Annemiek van Vleuten, it’s a battle between a couple of riders. Niewiadoma, Van der Breggen and Uttrup Ludwig. At this point it could be anyone’s chance to win the maglia rosa.

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 9 Profile

Women’s Giro Rosa 2020 Stage 9 Favourites

Anna van der Breggen will be the favourite going into this stage. After Van Vleuten, she was the best climber on the tough second stage, that now feels like a lifetime ago. Like the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana earlier in the year, it’s possible to see her just ride off into the distance alone. Especially as she now has the pink jersey. Kasia Niewiadoma found herself promoted from 2nd to 1st after Van Vleuten’s crash but lost the provisional pink jersey on Stage 8. This could turn out to be her best chance to win the Giro Rosa after racing well all week. Her team will have to play a role in helping isolate Van der Breggen.

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig will have less team support compared to the super teams of Boels Dolmans and Canyon SRAM. Luckily she climbs with the best and will be tough to shake off. I think a podium place is realistic but the win might be just out of reach. Mikayla Harvey may find it tough to hold onto her GC spot but will be more than happy to secure the white jersey. She’s in a private race with Marta Cavalli and Liane Lippert but has a large advantage, made larger by finishing 3rd on Stage 8. Expect her to race conservatively unless either of those two gain too much time on the road.

There’s a bit of a gap back to the next contenders. Ashleigh Moolman will give CCC their best chance of jumping onto the podium. She’ll have to gain over a minute on Uttrup Ludwig though so will need to be aggressive. Mavi Garcia is in a similar boat for Ale, needing over a minute for the podium. It’ll be interesting to see if these riders are happy with their current placings and ride to keep them or if they attack. Elisa Longo Borghini struggled on the longer climbs on Stage 2 but has moved into podium contention by winning Stage 8. She has the ability to strike out on her own as well so could be dangerous to Van der Breggen.

The genuine podium contenders end the further down the Top 10 you go, Marianne Vos is probably the first rider who will be aiming for a Top 5 placing instead. She’s well ahead of the riders behind but might still be suffering from the crash on Stage 7. Ane Santesteban moved up the GC on Stage 8 to 8th overall and is now the undisputed leader after Erica Magnaldi suffered with her injuries from the Stage 7 crash. Marianne Vos and Lizzy Banks will be battling for the last spots in the top-10. With the young riders Liane Lippert and Marta Cavalli looking in ready to capitalise on any mistake to move into the top-10 themselves.

Women’s Giro Rosa 2020 Stage 9 Outsiders

Almost all of the best climbers have found themselves high up in GC but there are a couple of specialists who are a little bit further down the standings.

Movistar’s Katrine Aalerud is a solid climber who finished 5th with the likes of Magnaldi and Garcia in the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana earlier in the year. She’s been consistent in this Giro Rosa and finally broke into the stage top 10 with a great 4th place in Stage 8. Her teammate Paula Patiño is in a similar boat and the pair have very similar results in 13th and 14th Overall. Soraya Paladin will be working for Ashleigh Moolman but she still managed to finish 8th on Stage 2 here. After a quiet start to 2020 she was 9th in La Course and 6th in the Giro dell’Emilia.

With no team leaders left, Lucy Kennedy might fancy a go. She was already in a break on Stage 8 and ended up finishing 15th. She’s been working hard for others since the Australian part of the season ended. She was the Herald Sun Tour winner back at the start of 2020. Finally, Maria Novolodskaya keeps attacking with 3 breakaways in 3 stages. Unfortunately she’s now crashed out of 2 of those. She’s a great talent and a big win feels like it’s coming.

Stage Prediction

1st
Anna van der Breggen
2nd
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig
3rd
Elisa Longo Borghini