Giro Rosa (st. 4)

Wound to right leg in yet another mass crash takes Australian rider from Movistar Team out of Italian stagerace; incident keeps García and Jasinska from reaching finish inside main group.

The toughness of the 2018 Giro Rosa again took the better from the Movistar Team on stage four of the race, a 109km loop around Piacenza with only one categorized climb -Romola, Cat-3- yet with lots of nerves after its descent, causing yet another major incident in the bunch.

A crash with 10km remaining split the bunch and had the Jorge Sanz-led squad down to six riders, as Rachel Neylan had to abandon. A wound to the lower part of her right leg, just under her calf, kept the Aussie rider from continuing in the race, and had her transferred to the San Giorgio medical center in the city, where she had the cut treated. It’s another blow for Neylan, who suffered a cut to her left knee at the Thüringen Tour and narrowly missed out on Giro selection.

The pile-up didn’t help the Movistar Team’s chances, their two main GC references so far in the race –Mavi García and Malgorzata Jasinska- dropped from a first bunch including Eider Merino and Lorena Llamas. At least, Tuesday will finally bring the Blues’ most suited terrain, with the Someraro (Cat-2) and Gignese -non-rated- climbs prior to a fast descent towards Omegna’s finish (117km).