Giro d’Italia Women: Marlen Reusser wins stage one and first maglia rosa

Marlen Reusser won the opening stage time trial to take the leader’s maglia rosa in Bergamo.

Reusser, who started the race as one of the out-and-out favourites for the general classification, was imperious on the flat, 14.2km course, first setting the fastest intermediate time, before taking the lead, 20 seconds ahead of Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime).

Van der Breggen eventually finished fourth on the day, with her teammate, European champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), finishing in second place, at 12 seconds, with defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) in third, at 16 seconds.

With seven stages remaining, including the first of three mountain top finishes on tomorrow's second stage, the race is finely balanced, especially with SD Worx in such a strong position with two women in the top four.

Reusser, though, will be happiest after winning the Tour de Suisse earlier last month and beating Van der Breggen in the mountain stages of the Vuelta Femenina in May.

“I’m still very excited and I can almost not believe it that we won,” she aid after the race. “It feels like a little bit surreal. I was not sure how good my TT is. It’s really a big dream of mine to win here and to wear pink. I was not sure it’s good enough and now I’ve won I can almost not believe it, I’m super happy.”

The Giro d’Italia Women traditionally begins with a time trial, and rather than a team event or a short, sharp prologue, this year’s race started with a 14.2km individual test. 

Taking place in the lower half - the Città Bassa - of Bergamo, the race was almost completely flat, with only 100m of altitude gain. The riders first headed east, out of the city, before turning 180º and once back in the city, they hit a more technical section, passing the intermediate time check, and winding through the city streets, soon crossing the finish line after a short straight.

While Liv-AlUla-Jayco rider, Amber Pate, was first down the ramp, the first rider likely to impact the GC was German, Liane Lippert (Movistar). With her eventual finish time of 19.04, Pate set the first time, though it was Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) who set the early benchmark, with a time of 18.13.

Four-time and current Norwegian champion, Katrin Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility), took the American’s place for a while, but it was former British champion and Olympic silver medalist, Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek), who took the lead, finishing the race in 17.49.

As the overall favourites began their efforts, Henderson’s time came under threat. Four-time GC winner, Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) converted a one-second deficit at the intermediate check into a seven-second lead, but barely reached the leader’s hot seat before Reusser beat her.

Monday sees the peloton head for the hill for the first of three mountain top finishes during the remaining seven stages. Starting just north of Bergamo, on the very edge of the Alps, in Clusone, first heading to Lake Iseo before turning north for the long climb to Aprica.

At 12.9km with an average gradient of 3.8%, the final climb is not the most challenging, but the steeper ramps on the way could see concerted attacks.