Anna Henderson wins Giro d’Italia stage 2 and takes the maglia rosa
The British rider was part of a two-woman breakaway which held on the take the victory ahead of a GC group
British rider Anna Henderson won stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia Women, moving into the maglia rosa of overall race leader.
The Lidl-Trek rider was part of a two-woman breakaway, and she out-sprinted Dilyxine Miermont (Ceratizit Pro Cycling) to take the first WorldTour victory of her career. Henderson started the stage only 27 seconds behind overall leader, Marlen Reusser (Movistar). The Swiss rider crossed the line 26 seconds down, but bonus seconds accrued at an intermediate sprint and on the line give the Briton an overall lead.
It was a tense, nail biting final. Henderson and Miermont had entered the final 5km of the uphill finish to Aprica leading by more than a minute, but that began to tumble as the GC group closed in. With 2km left the advantage was little more than 30 seconds and heartbreak looked on the cards.
However, when Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) pulled off the front, the deficit stayed static, and when Miermont flicked her elbow with around 900m to go Henderson played her cards, not coming through, staying patient until delivering the coup de grâce with her sprint around 250m from the line.
“I can’t believe it,” Henderson said afterwards. “As a team we made the plan this morning to be aggressive because we knew it would be a hard final and we knew that we had a good team for attacking.
“I took the opportunity with I think, about 40 to go and they gave us three minutes, I knew that once we had two minutes at the bottom that we could make it. I just kept working and I can’t believe it.
“It’s my first WorldTour victory and my first individual Grand Tour victory and I can't be more thankful to my team mates. We’re here for stages and this is what we came to do. I’m beyond grateful and happy, I’m in shock.”
How It Unfolded
The second of the Giro d’Italia’s eight stages brought the first mountaintop finish, though at 92km, it was also the shortest road stage.
From Sunday’s stage in Bergamo, the race has moved north, into the lower slopes of the Alps and the start town of Clusone. With the flag dropped the bunch skirted Lake Iseo, before heading north towards the finish in Aprica.
The race was hugely active from the start, with plenty of attacks, though none were allowed to go clear and the race headed onto a mid-stage unclassified climb as one. Only here did the race begin to break up, some of the sprinters, including Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) dropping.
Once on the relative flat again, two riders managed to get away, Olympic time trial silver medalist, Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) riding with Dilyxine Miermont (Ceratizit Pro Cycling) quickly building a lead of 1.27 with just 35km to go. After finishing sixth in the time trial, Henderson began the day only 27 seconds behind overall leader, Marlen Reusser (Movistar), so was soon in the virtual maglia rosa.
The final climb to Aprica might have been 14km in length, but the 3.5% average gradient meant it was not necessarily one for the pure climbers, giving the two leaders a chance to shine. On the approach Human Powered Health’s Spanish climber, Iurani Blanco launched a counter-attack, the peloton easing, allowing their deficit to extend to more than two minutes as the dropped riders returned.
Another 10km further on, Blanco’s effort was a forlorn one, and she was left in no-woman’s land, two minutes behind the leaders, while the peloton was a further minute back.
With 22.6km left to race, Henderson further extended her lead at the intermediate sprint, winning it and taking bonus seconds. Soon after Blanco took the one remaining second the Spaniard was caught by the bunch, which remained around three minutes back.
However, as they approached the bottom of the final climb the gap begun to come down and with 14km remaining, the deficit was down to just 2:10, UAE Team ADQ taking the lead, working for defending champion, Elisa Longo Borghini.
The steepest slopes came early on, and as they ramped up to 11%, the climbers came to the front, bringing the leaders down to only 1:20. Inside 10km Henderson and Miermont were still more than a minute up the road, but with four-time winner Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) isolated, dangling off the back of the group, overall leader Reusser attacked. This move distanced Van der Breggen, who had reportedly crashed early in the day, but the Dutchwoman managed to ride back on when the pace eased.
All the action had closed the gap to the leaders. Henderson and Miermont entered the final five kilometres leading by more than a minute, however, Longo Borghini had set team mate Silvia Persico to work and the gap began to tumble, the break entering the final 2,000m with only 30 seconds.
Tuesday’s stage 3 could well be one for the sprinters. The 122km race between Vezza d’Oglio and Trento begins with the ascent of Passo del Tonale, but downhill for most of the remaining 110km.
