Anna van der Breggen crushes Giro Women mountain time trial to seize control on Nevegal

The stage was the first real test for the overall contenders after three days that had belonged to Elisa Balsamo. The Italian started last in the maglia rosa, but the course was never likely to favour her. 

After a short descent out of Belluno and the crossing of the Piave, the road climbed almost all the way to the finish. The first part of the course was still relatively forgiving. After the time check, the real climbing began on the road to Nevegal.

Marlen Reusser (Movistar) had set the first serious mark among the GC riders. The Swiss rider, wearing the rainbow bands as time trial world champion, chose a road bike and paced her effort well. She was not quickest at the first split, but she came on strongly once the road steepened, catching Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset before beating the then-fastest Urska Zigart by 50 seconds at the finish.

Her 32:42 stood for a long spell, with Demi Vollering as the first to threaten it. The FDJ United-Suez leader, among the favourites for overall victory, started on a time trial bike and was quicker than Reusser at the intermediate checkpoint. For a while, she looked set to move into the lead, but the final kilometres told another story. Vollering lost time on the hardest part of the climb and crossed the line six seconds slower than Reusser.

Van der Breggen changed the scale of the stage altogether. She reached the intermediate point 36 seconds faster than Vollering and never showed any sign of paying for that early pace. On the steepest section, she continued to take time. By the finish, her advantage had grown to 1:04 over Reusser and 1:10 over Vollering.

Balsamo eventually finished 123rd, more than nine minutes down, and her spell in the maglia rosa came to an end as the jersey passed to Van der Breggen.

Van der Breggen admitted afterwards that she had not seen such a performance coming. “I really didn’t expect it. It’s incredible,” she said in the flash interview. “I’m really happy with this. I hope I can be an example that you always have to keep fighting and keep working hard, and that eventually it will come. I have worked so hard over the past two years to get here. To win like this means a lot to me.”

With five stages still to come, Van der Breggen knows the Giro is far from settled. “Taking the pink jersey is one thing, keeping it is another,” she said. 

“It will be very hard to defend it, but you can only do your best. My head feels good, the legs are good and I trust the girls in the team to help me defend the jersey. A time trial is very different from a road stage.” She also warned that Wednesday’s stage could be difficult, with rain expected and slippery descents likely to add another layer of danger.

The Giro continues tomorrow with a demanding stage from Longarone to Santo Stefano di Cadore, featuring several climbs and 3,400 metres of elevation gain.