The scene looked familiar at the start of today’s individual time trial: Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) in the pink jersey while Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) hoped her time trialing chops would diminish the time she had lost in the GC.
Last year she succeeded, climbing into the Giro Rosa lead after a similar looking individual time trial and winning the overall 2015 Giro Rosa in the hills a day later. This year, however, making up a 2’18” gap was a tall ask. But she put up a promising performance, setting the second fastest time of the day and making up 26″ in the GC. But in the end, she would come up short to Evelyn Stevens who got her third stage win of the tour.
Guarnier put up a good result herself, finishing fourth with a good enough time to hold onto the Maglia Rosa for yet another day.
With two more stages to go, it looks like only the two American riders of the Boels-Dolmans team are left with a chance to win the 2016 Giro Rosa.
2016 Giro Rosa stage 7
1. Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans)
2. Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv)
3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5)
4. Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans)
5. Kasia Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv)
Check out the full results on the CyclingTips results page.
Video
The jersey wearers after stage 7
Pink jersey/GC
1. Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans)
2. Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) + 0:34
3. Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) + 1:52
4. Mara Abbott (Wiggle-High5) + 2:06
5. Claudia Lichtenberg (Lotto-Soudal) + 2:32
6. Tatiana Guderzo (Team Hitec) + 3:04
White best young rider jersey
Kasia Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv)
Purple sprint jersey
Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans)
Green mountain jersey
Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5)
Blue best Italian rider jersey
Tatiana Guderzo (Team Hitec)
Photos
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- With Christine Majerus not having started in stage 6 and Lizzie Armitstead pulling out today, Boels-Dolmans only has four riders in the Giro Rosa now: Guarnier, Stevens, Karol-Ann Canuel and Amalie Dideriksen, who’s not on the photo.
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- A very solid ride by Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5, finishing second just 4 seconds behind Stevens.
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- Kasia Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv) sporting the white skinsuit for best young rider. She climbed to 7th in the GC in stage 6 and was able to hold on to that place today.
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- Evelny Stevens (Boels-Dolmans), wearing Guarnier’s purple sprint jersey, needed 36 minutes and 21 seconds to complete the 21.9 kilometer course.
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- Fourth place for Maglia Rosa Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) in the individual time trial, 29 seconds behind teammate Stevens.
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- Your 2016 Giro Rosa stage 7 podium: 1. Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans), 2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5), 3. Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv).
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- Guarnier and Stevens both have had lots of opportunities this Giro Rosa to perfect their champagne showers!
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- Third pink jersey and third bottle of champagne for Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) this Giro Rosa!
What’s in store for the riders in stage 8
After two tough mountain stages and an individual trime trial today, a slightly easier day is coming up for the peloton in stage 8, with a 97.5 kilometer stage containing only one category-3-climb.
Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) leads the mountain classification, 7 points ahead of teammate Abbott. So with a maximum of 5 points awarded at the climb, Longo Borghini will retain her green jersey after stage 8.
In the sprint classification, Guarnier has a 13 point advantage over her teammate Stevens, which is quite a comfortable lead, but she will be looking to actively defend it, as the intermediate sprint comes after only 18.4 kilometers.
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Will Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) bring the pink jersey home this year? Let us hear what you think in the comments!