Mara Abbott tears Giro Donne apart in the mountains, seizes pink

by Ben Atkins at 2:34 PM EST

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Categories: Pro Cycling, Race Reports and Results

US champion attacks on first of three high mountain passes to take control of the race

Mara Abbott (United States) won the eighth, and hardest, stage of the Giro d’Italia Femminile so far between Chiavenna and Livigno, after an emphatic solo attack in the mountains. The US champion finished 1’27” ahead of British champion Emma Pooley (Cervélo TestTeam), with Judith Arndt (HTC-Columbia) beating World champion Tatiana Guderzo (Team Valdarno) in the sprint for third, 1’40” behind at the end of 89 tough kilometres.

“We agreed that this would be a decisive stage,” said Abbott at the finish, “so we knew we had to make the race tough and stretch our opponents as much as possible. The attack after the Bernina was crucial, I also tried to push it on the Forcola to distance Pooley and my other, more immediate, rivals.

“Now we have another important day with the Stelvio,” she continued, “it will be a fundamental stage on the way to taking the final victory in the Giro, after my second place last year.”

Abbott made her move close to the top of the first of the day’s major climbs, the 1815m Passo del Maloja. Pooley was the only rider to go with the climber from Colorado and the two of them crossed the top of the climb with Guderzo not far behind them. Behind the World champion was HTC-Columbia duo Judith Arndt and Evelyn Stevens, the winner of yesterday’s stage 7.

The duo rode together on the plateau, through the Swiss ski resort of St-Moritz and on to the 2328m climb of the Passo del Bernina. They crossed the summit together, but Abbott managed to escape Pooley on the descent and headed for the final climb, the 2315m Forcola di Livigno, alone.

Over the summit, the US champion had a lead of 50 seconds over Pooley, and on the long descent to the finish she managed to increase it to 1’27”. Arndt and Guderzo managed to escape the rest of the chasers, with the German winning the sprint to take the final bonus seconds on the line.

Race leader Marianne Vos (Netherlands) finished in 7th place, 3’22” behind Abbott and to the US champion takes the pink jersey. Before the largely ceremonial stage into Monza, to the north of Milano, on Sunday though, there remains the small matter of a mountaintop finish on the Passo del Stelvio tomorrow.

Result stage 8
1. Mara Abbott (USA) United States National Team
2. Emma Pooley (GBr) Cervélo TestTeam @ 1’27”
3. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Columbia @ 1’40”
4. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Team Valdarno
5. Tatiana Antoshina (Rus) Team Valdarno @ 1’56”
6. Claudia Häusler (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam
7. Marianne Vos (Ned) Netherlands National Team @ 3’22”
8. Edwige Pitel (Fra) Michela Fanini-Record-Rox
9. Evgeniya Vysotskaya (Rus) Team Valdarno
10. Amber Neben (USA) United States National Team @ 4’23”

Standings after stage 8
1. Mara Abbott (USA) United States National Team
2. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Columbia @ 19s
3. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Team Valdarno @ 1’05
4. Marianne Vos (Ned) Netherlands National Team @ 1’38”
5. Claudia Häusler (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam @ 1’41”

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