Italian sprinter takes second stage into iconic Tuscan capital
Giorgia Bronzini (Gauss-RDZ-Ormu) won the sixth and final stage of the Giro della Tosacana between Quarrata and Firenze (Florence), taking her second victory in the race. The Italian former track World champion sprinted several lengths clear of Dutch trio Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit), Kirsten Wild (Cervélo TestTeam) and Chantal Blaak (Netherlands National Team) at the end of the 107km stage into the Tuscan capital.
The peloton stayed together until 61.6km and the third intermediate sprint, at the end of the last of seven 8.8km circuits around the streets of Quarrata. German champion Charlotte Becker (Cervélo TestTeam) took the sprint ahead of Evelyn Stevens and Emilia Fahlin (both HTC Columbia) and continued her acceleration to escape alone.
Becker managed to pull out a maximum lead of 35 seconds, which still stood at 30 seconds after 80km; she was eventually caught with 13km to go.
As the peloton crossed the Piazzale Michelangelo with just 5km to go, an attack from Eleonora Patuzzo (XXX) was countered by Trixi Worrack (German National Team) and she managed to get 10 seconds ahead. The chase, mostly by third place overall Noemi Cantele (HTC-Columbia) on behalf of teammate Ina Teutenberg, stretched the peloton and Worrack was absorbed with 2km to go.
As the race passed under the Arcone on the west side of the Piazza della Republica Bronzini launched her sprint and pulled herself clear of the rest. Vos narrowly beat Wild for second place ahead of the peloton, which was split into several pieces.
Arndt finished in the front group, with many of her rivals losing a few seconds, and takes her second edition of the Giro della Toscana after her win in 2008. The former World champion finished 39 seconds ahead of Russian champion Tatiana Antoshina (Valdarno), and 51 seconds ahead of her teammate Cantele, the winner of the 2007 race.
“I’m pleased I’ve won,” said Arndt, “but what’s really nice is that HTC-Columbia has held the leader’s jersey from beginning to end, in our last race as a team this season. First it went to Ina [Teutenberg] then Noemi [Cantele] had it and finally I got it.
“Yesterday I wasn’t aiming to move into the lead,” she explained, “I was defending Noemi’s lead in the breaks, and I had to go with the moves. As a result of that, I ended up in the lead myself.
“It’s my first [stage race victory] in over a year,” she added. “I’ve had a lot of second places so this is a good moment for me. At the same time that the riders here with HTC-Columbia are going to the World’s, so it’s nice to see that everybody’s in good shape and ready for that, too.”
Result stage 6
1. Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Gauss-RDZ-Ormu
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
3. Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo TestTeam
4. Chantal Blaak (Ned) Netherlands National Team
5. Grete Treier (Est) Michela Fanini-Record-Rox
6. Ina Teutenberg (Ger) HTC-Columbia
7. Trixi Worrack (Ger) German National Team
8. Rasa Leleivyte (Ltu) Safi-Pasta Zara
9. Emma Johansson (Swe) Swedish National Team
10. Alessandra D’Ettorre (Ita) Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo-Ghezzi
Final standings Giro della Toscana 2010
1. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Columbia
2. Tatiana Antoshina (Rus) Team Valdarno @ 39s
3. Noemi Cantele (Ita) HTC-Columbia @ 51s
4. Emma Johansson (Swe) Swedish National Team @ 1’03”
5. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Team Valdarno @ 1’08”
Points classification (ciclamino jersey): Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
Mountains classification (green jersey): Noemi Cantele (Ita) HTC-Columbia
Young rider classification (white jersey): Elena Berlato (Ita) Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo-Ghezzi
Sprints classification (blue jersey): Valentina Bastianelli (Ita) Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo-Ghezzi