The fourth day of the Giro Rosa was yet another for the sprinters, with Jolien D’hoore (Mitchelton-Scott) powering across the line first for the second day in a row.

The 109 km route around Piacenza provided a little more interest than the previous flat stage, with the bunch splitting in two over a short, but tough climb halfway through the race.

After reaching the top of the GPM the front group of 60 slowed, allowing the chase group, which included many of the sprinters, to regain contact.

Olena Pavlukhina (BTC City) escaped from the peloton in the final 30 km, but was only able to extend her lead out to 1’10” before being reeled back in with 9km to go.

TeamSunWeb led through the final kilometres to launch Leah Kirchmann, but Jolien D’hoore successfully surfed the bunch to jumped at the perfect time to take the win.

“The last corner I got a bit boxed in and had to come from the back again”, D’hoore said of her sprint.

D’hoore was joined on the podium by Marta Bastianelli (Alé Cipollini) and Lotta Lepistӧ (Cervélo-Bigla).

Kirchmann (TeamSunWeb) maintains her lead of the General Classification for another day.

Australians Amanda Spratt and Gracie Elvin (Mitchelton-Scott) move up to 4th and 6th position of GC.

Stage 4 Results

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/giro-d-italia-femminile/2018/stage-4

GC Standings

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/giro-d-italia-femminile/2018/stage-4-gc

Stage 5 preview

The Giro Rosa returns to the lakes of northern Italy with a hilly 117.7 km course starting and finishing in Omegna.

The initial 36 km loop around Lago d’Orta, which is relatively flat except for an early 4.6 km climb at 3.6%.

A second loop includes some tough climbing. The steep Monte Rosa, a 3.8 km climb of 8.8%, comes after 80km of racing and will surely see some splits in the peloton. The riders will then attack another 4.8 km (4.3%) climb before descending into a flat finish.

This tough stage is likely to end in a reduced sprint and we may see a versatile rider like Marianne Vos take line honours.

Cycling terminology

GPM (Gran Premio della Montagna) - Classification for the climbers, where points are awarded to first three riders to reach the top of an intermediate climb.