Emma Pooley won stage 6 of this year’s Giro Rosa today, after a successful late attack on the final climb of the day, the Salita die Carbonai, that gave the British rider an enough of a gap to hold off her rivals during the long descent to San Fior – to claim a solo victory.
Meanwhile, Marianne Vos retained her hold on the overall race lead, with a 45 second advantage over her teammate – Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.
“I am really quite emotional,” Pooley told the media. “It was such an incredibly hard day. I feel so happy. It was a really good day.”
“The Lotto-Belisol team did a brilliant job to position me at that the foot of the climb. It was like a Mur de Huy type climb. I don’t think Rabo-Liv expected this. I think they expected us to wait until the longer climb. The team really did a brilliant job.”
“I didn’t expect them to chase me down so hard. I am no threat in the GC.” “But the gap went down from two minutes to a few seconds. I really thought I wouldn’t make it. When you see the finish picture they really came close. This is all very emotional.”
Stage 6 Results
1. Emma Pooley (GBr) Lotto-Belisol, 3:05:46
2. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Rabobank-Liv, + 00:15
3. Marianne Vos (Ned) Rabo-Liv, s.t.
4. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Fra) Rabobank-Liv, s.t.
5. Claudia Lichtenberg Häusler (Ger) Liv-Shimano, s.t.
6. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Hitc Products, s.t.
7. Mara Abbott (USA) UnitedHealthcare, s.t.
8. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) Rabobnk-Liv, + 01:06
9. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Rabo-Liv, + 04:19
10. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) Hitec Products, s.t.
General Classification After Stage 6
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Rabobank-Liv, 18:03:19
2. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Fra) Rabobank-Liv, + 00:45
3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Hitec Products, + 00:53
4. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Rabobank-Liv, + 02:12
5. Claudia Häusler (Ger) Liv-Shimano, + 02:58
6. Mara Abbott (USA) UnitedHealthcare, + 04:41
7. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) Rabobnk-Liv, + 06:09
8. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Rabo-Liv, + 06:18
9. Emma Johansson (Swe) ORICA-AIS, s.t.
10. Megan Guarnier (USA) Boels-Dolmans, + 06:26
