Giro d'Italia Donne 2023 – Annemiek van Vleuten crushes rivals to take 100th win on Stage 2

Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) landed a 100th professional victory at the Giro d'Italia Donne with an outstanding solo win on Stage 2 after attacking on the final climb and extending her lead al the way to the finish in Marradi. After yesterday's opening stage was abandoned midway through due to torrential rain, the Giro finally came to life on Saturday as the Dutch lit the race up and powered away to take the second stage and first jersey as she attempts to win her fourth Giro Donne.

Ad Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) and Marta Cavalli (FDJ-SUEZ) were the closest to the World Champion on the Passo della Colla, but struggled to close the gap on the descent off the climb and were caught by a larger group that slipped further away from the defending Giro champion up the road. Giro d'Italia DonneOpening stage of Giro Donne cancelled due to torrential rainYESTERDAY AT 13:00 That chasing group was led by Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ–Suez) who pipped Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich) in the sprint behind, 45 seconds down on Van Vleuten with the gain on bonus seconds pushing Van Vleuten's lead in the general classification to 49 seconds over the Dane and 51 ahead of the French climber.

This solo victory marked the incredible century of wins for the Dutch legend of the sport and her 14th at the Giro Donne. This is the last appearance for the 40-year-old at the Giro and she is already looking set to win the second Grand Tour of the year after winning the La Vuelta in May.

As we joined live coverage, an early breakaway of two had formed at the front in Irene Mendez (Bizkaia Durango) and newly-crowned Norwegian national road race champion, Susanne Andersen (Uno-X). Their advantage was over the three minute mark as two hopeful chasers set out