After two second places on stages 2 and 3, Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) won stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia Women, sprinting to victory in Foligno ahead of Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) and Arlenis Sierra (Movistar Team).
Team SD Worx-Protime was in control all day, only letting single escapees get away, and when Marta Jaskulska (Ceratizit-WNT) was reeled in with 8km to go, they set up a perfect lead-out for the world champion, dropping Kopecky off after the final corner 250 metres from the line to win the stage.
“The final was very hectic, a lot of roundabouts, very high speed, but I had amazing teammates the whole day, especially in the final, who kept me in perfect position. I think it was one of the best lead-outs I’ve ever had, just perfect timing. Elena Cecchini went with 500 [metres] to go, and Barbara took the final corner. I just started sprinting, and when I passed her, she already said ‘yes’, it was really nice,” Kopecky thanked her teammates after her stage win.
Due to the time bonification for the stage victory, the world champion reduced her deficit to maglia rosa Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) to only three seconds. She also extended her lead in the points classification to 43 points over Consonni, making her hopeful to keep the red points jersey to the end.
“It’s a nice advantage already with only three stages to go which are pretty hard where I think I have the better of Consonni, so I think it would be nice to keep it,” Kopecky said.
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