Liane Lippert took her first victory since winning stage six in last year's Giro d'Italia Women after outsprinting breakaway rival Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck on the same stage in this week's Giro d'Italia Women at Terre Roveresche (Orciano di Pesaro).
The Movistar rider had attacked from a small breakaway group in the final 10 kilometres of what was a relentlessly lumpy 145km outing which passed through San Marino along the way.
"I'm super happy, I had a super good day today," Lippert said afterwards, "and yeah, the team was on fire."
Asked whether six was her favourite number now she'd won the stage twice, she replied: "Before it was always number two because I won in the Tour de France stage two, but in the Giro six is my lucky number. It was similar to last year and I had the feeling that today would be my day, and I went for it."
After not feeling great to start with, the race had been a process of slowly feeling better each day, she said.
"I came to this Giro actually not feeling super good, but I've felt better day by day and also thanks to my team because they mentally built me up again. I was on a bit of a low after the second stage but now I'm feeling super myself again.
"The people around you make a big difference to how you ride on the bike actually.
"It was always the priority to be for the maglia rosa," she added, "that's why I'm really happy the team gave me the chance to also go for myself."
Lippert's team-mate Marlen Reusser retain her maglia rosa after finishing in a group of chasing favourites, with Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) still second at 16sec and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) some way back in third at 1:53.
The work that Rooijakkers did in the breakaway paid off in GC terms too, with the Dutch rider climbing four places into fourth at 2:02.
How it happened
A 145km stage that saw the race transition southwards to the middle of Italy, from Bellaria Igea Marina to Terre Roveresche, always looked like it was going to be tough and attritional, with a warm sun only adding to the challenge.
Despite featuring only three classified climbs, the profile rarely let up, especially in the latter half, and it was the small but incessant and steep ascents in the latter part of the race that went a long way towards shaping the result.
The day's first landmark was San Marino – a mini-nation in its own right dominated by self-titled capital on a major hill. This featured on the route as the first classified climb, a cat-two.
Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Oatly) launched the first significant attack of the day in the lead-in, followed by Silvia Zanardi (Human Powered Health) and Giorgia Vettorello (Roland).
Cadzow managed a 45-second gap at one point, but the bunch appeared to be in no mood to let anyone off the leash just yet, and all three riders were caught before the top of the 5.3km ascent.
There were a few individual chancers over the next 40km or so, but it was on the cat-three double of the Monteciccardo and the Beato Sante with around 70km to go that the race started to get properly attritional.
Attacks came first from Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ), Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) and Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek), who managed a 15-second gap but were brought back on the Beato Sante.
The next big move came from a by-now highly reduced peloton, with Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) attacking at 46km to go, followed by Juliet Labous (FDJ Suez) and Sara Casasolo (Fenix-Deceuninck).
The three established a worthwhile gap of around 45 seconds before the training bunch started shredding itself as riders attempted to join what looked like a move that would go all the way. In the end Rooijakkers managed to bridge across, as did Lippert.
With 10km to go, the German rider went solo on a steep but unclassified climb, with Rooijakkers the only rider able to follow.
Behind Longo Borghini attempted to attack Reusser but was unable to drop the pink jersey, and ultimately an elite chasing group caught the break's stragglers and settled in behind.
Van Anrooij bared her teeth again, attacking from the chase group with 7km to go, but she could only get halfway across the near-one-minute gap to the leading pair. Up front Rooijakkers was clearly doing all she could to gain GC seconds – work that perhaps left her wanting in the final push to the line, which was won comfortably by Lippert.
Results
Giro d'Italia Women stage six: Bellaria Igea Marina > Terre Roveresche (Orciano di Pesaro) (145km)
1. Liane Lippert (Ger) Movistar, in 3:53:01
2. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +2s
3. Shirin van Anrooij (Ned) Lidl-Trek, +46s
4. Silke Smulders (Ned) Liv AlUla Jayco, +1:05
5. Lieke Nooijen (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:16
6. Sarah van Dam (Can) Ceratizit Pro Cycling, +1:24
7. Juliette Labous (Fra) FDJ-Suez
8. Katrine Aalerud (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
9. Elisa Longo Borgini (Ita) UAE Team ADQ
10. Barbara Malcotti (Ita) Human Powered Health, all at same time
General Classification after stage six
1. Marlen Reusser (Swi) Movistar, in 16:11:39
2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE Team ADQ, +16s
3. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +1:53
4. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +2:02
5. Katrine Aalerud (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +2:07
6. Sarah Gigante (Aus) AG Insurance-Soudal, +2:16
7. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, +2:45
8. Yara Kastelijn (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +3:36
9. Isabella Holmgren (Can) Lidl-Trek, +3:39
10. Urška Žigart (Slo) AG Insurance-Soudal, +3:50
