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22nd Giro d'Italia Internazional Femminile 2011

WCN quicklink >> Stage 1     Stage 1 Full    Stage 2     Stage 2 Full   Stage 3     Stage 3 Full

                                 Stage 4     Stage 4 Full     Stage 5     Stage 5 Full   Stage 6     Stage 6 Full

                                 Stage 7     Stage 7 Full     Stage 8     Stage 8 Full   Stage 9    Stage 9 Full 

                                 Stage 10    Stage 10 Full

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Stage 9- Vos makes it five wins

Aglie' - Ceresole Reale 114.8 km

Race Writeup

Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) showed agian her dominance in the Giro Donne by winning for the fifth time in nine stages. She rode solo to the mountain top finish in Ceresole Reale. Chasing down the Dutch woman for second was Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervelo), who finished 12 seconds behind. Judith Arndt (HTC Highroad) finished third, 22 seconds down on Vos, while Tatiana Guderzo (SC MCipollini Giordana) crossed the line for fourth place three seconds later.

The ninth stage of the Giro Donne took the peloton 114.8km from Aglie' to Ceresole Reale with the biggest challenge of the day, the 20km climb to the finish.

As with other days an early break formed. With 34km of racing completed a lead group that included Monia Baccaille (SC MCipollini Giordana), 2009 Giro Donne champion Claudia Häusler (Diadora-Pasta Zara), Swedish champion Emma Johansson (Hitec), Irene Van Den Broek (AA Drink), Polona Batagelj (Bizkaia-Durango), Ashleigh Moolman (Lotto), Sharon Laws (Garmin-Cervelo), Andrea Dvorak (Colavita Forno d'Asolo) and Amanda Miller (HTC Highroad).

The nine riders managed to extend their lead out to 2 minutes 20 seconds by the time they passed through Cuorgnè and began the lengthy climb to the finish.

Once the leaders began climbing, the break shattered with an attack from Häusler and Johansson. They quickly  dispatched of their fellow escapees. The peloton, which was being driven primarily by Nederland Bloeit and HTC Highroad, also disintegrated on the climb's lowers slopes. Vos her team had protected her all day and took the lead and attacked out of the bunch on the tough twitch backs. Pooley chased to join her. They both caught and passed the sraglers from the initial break. Vos bridged to Häusler and Johansson in a lengthy tunnel with Pooley caught them shortly after. Vos attacked the leads just as Pooley was about to make contact with them. Pooley was able to make her way past Häusler and Johansson to the maglia rosa.

Arndt and Guderzo rode together in pursuit of Vos and Pooley and a little further back another chase group formed containing 2010 Giro Donne champion Mara Abbott (Diadora-Pasta Zara), Häusler, Tatiana Antoshina (Gauss), Johannson and Ruth Corset (Bizkaia-Durango).

As the climb levelled out in the final kilometre Vos once again put her stamp of authority on the Giro Donne. With 200m remaining to the finish, the Dutch champion unleashed a powerful attack to which Pooley had no response.

Vos holds a commanding lead in the Giro Donne after the penultimate stage with only Pooley somewhat able to limit her losses overall. Pooley, the reigning time trial world champion, trails Vos by 2:48. Arndt rounds out the top three, 8:07 behind Vos, and faces a tight duel for the final podium position with Tatiana Guderzo (SC MCipollini Giordana), who trails the German by 14 seconds with one stage remaining.

In addition to leading general classification, Vos also leads both the points and mountains classifications.

With only one stage remains in the Giro Donne, a rolling 16km individual time trial in San Francisco al Campo, Vos looks set to win the 2011 race.

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