Annemiek van Vleuten wins Giro d'Italia Donne for fourth time as Chiara Consonni triumphs on Stage 9

Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) avoided incident as she wrapped up a fourth Giro d'Italia Donne title, with Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) pipping Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) to take victory in the Stage 9 sprint. With Van Vleuten taking a 3'56" lead into a final stage that always looked destined for a bunch sprint, the Dutchwoman just had to stay upright to add another title to her bulging palmarès.

She did precisely that and will head into the second Tour de France Femmes later this month as the clear favourite to defend her title. Ad The straightforward final stage was far from a procession, with the 127km course, the second longest of the week carrying the race from Sassari to Olbia across the entire north of Sardinia.

It was another stiflingly hot day and the peloton's big teams were determined not to make it hard for themselves, denying any wannabe escapees the opportunity to gain much of a gap. The main classifications were all but sewn up ahead of the stage, Annemiek van Vleuten holding an unassailable lead in the mountains and points competitions, as well as almost four minutes in the general classification, and Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) starting the day with a six minute cushion in the race to be best young riders.

Giro d'Italia DonneWatch the moment that both Van Vleuten and Longo Borghini crashed at Giro Donne04/07/2023 AT 12:55 The first climb was crossed all together, at cruising pace, after which a few riders decided to roll the dice at the last chance saloon. Iris Monticolo (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) made a reasonable effort to go it alone, before being replaced by seasoned solo artist, Anna Kiesenhofer (Israel Premier Tech Roland) replaced her.