Latest news with #GirodItaliaWomen
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Aussie Gigante climbs the podium at Giro d'Italia
Sarah Gigante has completed her dazzling maiden Giro d'Italia by finishing third overall and winning the Queen of the Mountains jersey as the top climber. While Italian home favourite Elisa Longo Borghini held on to her overnight lead to take the title for a second straight year, Gigante was thrilled to finish her breakthrough event, in which she won two mountain stages in four days, with a place on the podium. Better still, she produced the goods on the final hilly stage to take the Queen of the Mountains jersey as top climber, going past the overnight leader, Spain's Usoa Ostolaza. 🥉 place in GC and Maglia Azzurra as the Queen of the Mountains of the Giro d'Italia Women... @SarahGigante of @agsoudal 💙🥉 terza in classifica generale e Maglia Azzurra... Sarah Gigante della AG Insurance-Soudal 💙#GirodItaliaWomen #WonderfulWomen #WOW | @UCI_WWT — Giro d'Italia Women (@girowomen) July 13, 2025 "I can't believe how well this week went," said Gigante, who is making a remarkable comeback to the sport after surgery last year to fix the debilitating condition, Iliac artery endofibrosis. "I never expected this. My main concern was just being able to compete again without pain." The 24-year-old follows her countrywoman Neve Bradbury, who also finished third in the 2024 event, and joins Amanda Spratt (3rd in 2018 and 2019), Kathryn Watt (2nd in 1994 and 3rd in 1990) and Elisabeth Hepple (2nd in the inaugural 1988 event) in the Giro's Australian roll of honour. After taking the race lead off Marlen Reusser on the penultimate stage, Longo Borghini successfully defended the pink jersey on the final 134km stage eight from Forlì to Imola, finishing fourth behind her Swiss rival on the day. Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) ended up victorious by 18 seconds ahead of Movistar's Reusser, with Gigante unable to make any inroads into the champion's overnight lead of 71 seconds over the Melbourne rider. The stage was won by Movistar's Liane Lippert, who beat Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) in a two-up sprint at the famous Imola racetrack, the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, after the pair had escaped from a group of a dozen riders, including Gigante, in the last 3km. 🇮🇹💕#GirodItaliaWomen ¡Una semana para recordar!@MarlenReusser finaliza 2° en la general tras una última etapa exigente en el circuito de Giro que cerramos con:🏆 3 victorias de etapa🥈 2° puesto en la general individual✨ Y un trabajo de equipo espectacular… — Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) July 13, 2025 The hilly route provided Gigante's key to the Queen of the Mountains blue jersey prize. She had been lying one point behind Ostolaza overnight, but won the first mountain sprint in Monticino to regain a lead that she wasn't about to relinquish. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) then went on a solo breakaway to win an intermediate sprint and seal her points classification victory. "It's been an incredible Giro - for me and for the team. The last eight days were full gas: we had a common goal, and we achieved it," Longo Borghini said.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Elisa Longo Borghini retains Giro d'Italia Women title as Lippert wins final stage
Elisa Longo Borghini has retained her Giro d'Italia Women title, holding on to the pink jersey she claimed on Saturday's queen stage as the race concluded at Imola. Longo Borghini (Team UAE ADQ) sealed her second victory at her home Grand Tour, after losing just four bonus seconds to Switzerland's Marlen Reusser (Movistar) on the final stage, winning the title by 18 seconds overall. Germany's Liane Lippert, also from the Movistar stable, won the race's eighth and final stage with a late break alongside Anna van der Breggen (Team SD-Worx). The pair broke away in the final kilometres inside the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, with Lippert crossing the finish line first. Reusser and Longo Borghini came home in the chasing group, eight seconds behind, with the Swiss rider claiming a four-second bonus for finishing third. It was not enough to win back the maglia rosa, which Longo Borghini had taken from Reusser with a bold attack to the summit finish at Monte Nerone on Saturday. 'Right now, I'm honestly without words,' Longo Borghini said afterwards, having won the overall title without claiming a stage win. 'This Giro has been intense, emotional, unforgettable. I knew I had to dig deep and fight until the very end.' 'My teammates were phenomenal, and this maglia rosa is for them,' the 33-year-old added. 'We worked so hard, and to win like this, defending the jersey on such an iconic circuit, it's just incredible. Cycling is a rollercoaster … moments like this make all the sacrifices worth it.' For Lippert, a second stage win of the week was a good consolation after failing to deliver overall glory for Movistar teammate Reusser. 'We lost the maglia rosa but we promised each other to fight to the very end,' the 27-year-old said. 'Today, Marlen worked for me and I wanted to give her a reason to smile. I knew I had to follow [Anna] Van der Breggen and the perfect scenario played out for us.' Australia's Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), who won stage seven, finished third overall and claimed the blue jersey for the best mountain rider, having also prevailed on stage four. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceunick) and Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto) finished fourth and fifth overall.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Queen of the Giro mountains: Aussie Gigante wins again
Australian cycling star Sarah Gigante has won a second stage in her dream Giro d'Italia week to move into a podium spot -- and she's not ruled out a dramatic last-day triumph in the great race. Just three days after the recording the biggest win of her flourishing career in the mountainous fourth stage, the 24-year from Melbourne pulled off an even more remarkable win in the penultimate seventh stage in the Umbrian Apennines on Saturday. It shot the euphoric Gigante into third position in the overall standings, just one minute 11 seconds adrift of Italian race leader Elisa Longo Borghini, who took the pink jersey off Swiss Marlen Reusser by 22 seconds. 🎙️ check out the post-race interview with the Australian Queen of Mountains @SarahGigante 🩷🎙️ guarda l'intervista con la Regina australiana delle Montagne Sarah Gigante 🩷#GirodItaliaWomen #WonderfulWomen #WOW | @agsoudal @UCI_WWT — Giro d'Italia Women (@girowomen) July 12, 2025 That's left Gigante still dreaming of an unlikely triumph after Sunday's final eighth stage, a 130km route between Forlì and Imola. "I'm still a bit far back in the general classification, but I'll give it a go tomorrow," said the AG Insurance-Soudal rider. "Obviously, will be hard to defend that lead, but we'll try." Gigante was all smiles after an interviewer suggested following her second stunning triumph -- this time in the race's most demanding 'queen stage' -- that she might now like to be called the 'princess of the mountains'. "The princess? Yeah, sure - or the queen!" she responded with a laugh. Gigante left the home fans stunned when she broke away from the pack on the final climb of the 150km route from Fermignano to Monte Nerone to catch their hero, stage leader Longo Borghini, with three kilometres to go. She then powered away to annex the stage win by 45 seconds, recording the fastest time ever by a woman rider on the Monte Nerone ascent. "I had studied the final climb and decided to attack on the steep section. I wanted to show that stage four-win wasn't just a one-off, but that I came to Italy to achieve great results," she said. 🇦🇺 a 24 years old from Melbourne, Australia, is in Italy to conquer every climb: @SarahGigante records the fastest known time on Monte Nerone 🚄🇦🇺 Sarah Gigante ha realizzato il miglior tempo di sempre sul Monte Nerone 🚄#GirodItaliaWomen #WonderfulWomen #WOW — Giro d'Italia Women (@girowomen) July 12, 2025 This exciting talent had surgery last year to fix Iliac artery endofibrosis, a debilitating condition that occurs when high blood flow and repetitive hip flexion cause the artery to narrow. Last year's Tour Down Under winner in Adelaide has snared three senior national road titles, but these four days have represented the highlight of her career. "I knew I felt really good," she said, when she decided to attack Longo Borghini. "I saw on my Garmin, there was a little flat section, and then it went steep again. "And I knew she was pretty tired after being out there a while, and I felt good -- so I went for it, although I was dying a thousand deaths in the last kilometre because it was so steep. "It's really special moving into the GC podium place," added Gigante, who had been sixth overnight and is now also lying second, just a point behind Spain's Usoa Ostolaza, in the Queen of the Mountains standings. "That's really special. It's my first year. I did the Vuelta last year, and I finished 19th, and then I was seventh on the Tour (de France). So if I can come home with third place overall this week, then I'd be very happy."
Reuters
3 days ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Leader Pogacar keeps ear on partner's progress in middle of Tour stage
July 12 (Reuters) - Tadej Pogacar may be concentrating intensely on winning his fourth Tour de France, but in the middle of Saturday's stage eight he was just as focused on how his partner Urska Zigart was performing in the Giro d'Italia Women. Slovenia's golden couple of cycling are engaged to be married and even have a children's book featuring them as the main characters. Reigning Tour champion Pogacar, 26, regained the leader's yellow jersey after winning Friday's stage, and with Saturday's race at a more leisurely pace until the sprint finish, he was kept up to date on Zigart's result by his team. "Today, Urska seventh place at Giro d'Italia stage," UAE Team Emirates told him via their team radio. "And in the General Classification?" Pogacar asked. "Wait, wait, we still don't have info, maybe ninth but we will check when it will be official, we will tell you okay?" his team replied. Zigart actually moved from 10th to eight overall in the Giro after Saturday's penultimate stage, while Pogacar finished safely in the main bunch to remain 54 seconds ahead of his nearest Tour de France challenger Remco Evenepoel. Pogacar and 28-year-old Zigart became engaged in 2021, and at other times in their career it has been easier to keep up to date with one another's successes. In 2020 and 2023 they both became Slovenian National Time Trial champions on the same day. Pogacar withdrew from the Slovenian team for last year's Olympics due to extreme fatigue having won both the Giro and Tour de France but also cited Zigart's omission from the women's team as a factor in his decision.
CNA
3 days ago
- Sport
- CNA
Leader Pogacar keeps ear on partner's progress in middle of Tour stage
Tadej Pogacar may be concentrating intensely on winning his fourth Tour de France, but in the middle of Saturday's stage eight he was just as focused on how his partner Urska Zigart was performing in the Giro d'Italia Women. Slovenia's golden couple of cycling are engaged to be married and even have a children's book featuring them as the main characters. Reigning Tour champion Pogacar, 26, regained the leader's yellow jersey after winning Friday's stage, and with Saturday's race at a more leisurely pace until the sprint finish, he was kept up to date on Zigart's result by his team. "Today, Urska seventh place at Giro d'Italia stage," UAE Team Emirates told him via their team radio. "And in the General Classification?" Pogacar asked. "Wait, wait, we still don't have info, maybe ninth but we will check when it will be official, we will tell you okay?" his team replied. Zigart actually moved from 10th to eight overall in the Giro after Saturday's penultimate stage, while Pogacar finished safely in the main bunch to remain 54 seconds ahead of his nearest Tour de France challenger Remco Evenepoel. Pogacar and 28-year-old Zigart became engaged in 2021, and at other times in their career it has been easier to keep up to date with one another's successes. In 2020 and 2023 they both became Slovenian National Time Trial champions on the same day. Pogacar withdrew from the Slovenian team for last year's Olympics due to extreme fatigue having won both the Giro and Tour de France but also cited Zigart's omission from the women's team as a factor in his decision.
