Giro Rosa (st. 5)

Movistar Team only squad with four riders -García (19th), Merino, Llamas, Jasinska- into bunch in pursuit of leading trio; Winder bests Wiles (DRP), Arzuffi (BDM) to take pink.

A three-rider breakaway on stage five made for yet another leadership change between Sunweb riders in the 2018 Giro Rosa -four different ‘maglie rose’ so far-. American Ruth Winder outsprinted Tayler Wiles (DRP) and Alice Maria Arzuffi (BDM) in Omegna, closing point of a 123km trek with the main climb of Someraro (Cat-2), just over thirty kilometers from the end.

The break, together with a three-woman pursuit -Longo Borghini (WHT), Spratt (MTS) and Niewiadoma (CSR)- jumping off the front at the descent of the non-rated Gignese (later neutralized), held off the late charge by a reduced peloton of about 40 members. The pursuit, finishing 1’17” off the leaders, included four Movistar Team riders -the team with the biggest representation-: Eider Merino, Lorena Llamas, Mavi García and Malgorzata Jasinska.

The squad directed by Jorge Sanz -which has Merino and Llamas close to the top-20 overall- will seek for their most significant climbing opportunities starting with Wednesday’s first mountain-top finish: Gerola Alta (Cat-2), a 12-kilometer climb at 6% putting an end to a pretty flat 114km journey from Sovico to the foot of the ascent.