Top-ten finish to open Giro Rosa

Biannic, García, Jasinska, Llamas, Merino, Neylan and Rodríguez perform strong in flat 15km course around Verbania: finish just over 1' behind Sunweb, first leaders with Ellen Van Dijk.

A relentless, conscientious job by the whole Movistar Team directed by Jorge Sanz led the Blues to a top-ten result in their first-ever team time trial since the women’s squad was born in February. The Spanish outfit grabbed the 8th place at the opening stage of the Giro Rosa -15.5km in and around Verbania, in front of the Lago Maggiore- with a fantastic, well-coordinated effort from its seven riders against the top squads and riders in the WorldTour.

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Aude Biannic, Mavi García, Malgorzata Jasinska, Lorena Llamas, Eider Merino, Rachel Neylan and Gloria Rodríguez finished with 19’36”, a time staying at the top of the leaderboard for around twenty minutes and only beaten by the final group -Sunweb won the stage with 18’24”, improving the Blues’ record by 1’11”–. The Giro will now head into less demanding terrain, starting with Saturday’s 120km around Ovada, sprinters set to profit from their chances before the mountains loom on Tuesday.

Picture (c): Sean Robinson / Vélofocus