Lotte Kopecky praised "one of the best lead outs I've ever had" after winning the bunch sprint into Foligno on stage five of the Giro d'Italia Women. She put acres of space between her back wheel and the rest of the bunch at the end of the 108km stage, which began in Frontone.
The SD Worx-Protime rider, who is second on GC, also took 10 bonus seconds, to move to within three seconds of race leader Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek).
Stage two winner Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) was second, with Arlenis Sierra (Movistar) third.
World champ Kopecky's victory also saw her extend her lead in the red points jersey over second-placed Consonni to 43 points.
"[The final kilometres] were very hectic," said Kopecky afterwards. "A lot of roundabouts, a very high speed. But I had all my amazing team-mates, who kept me in perfect position. It was one of the best lead outs I've ever had. It was just perfect timing."
Of her now-comfortable lead in the red jersey, she added: "It's a nice advantage with only three stages to go – which are pretty hard and I think I'll have the better of Consonni. So I think yeah, it would be nice to keep it."
Other than Kopecky closing in on Longo Borghini thanks to those bonus seconds, there was no change in the general classification top-10.
How it happened
The story of today's stage was largely one of an unsettled bunch, with attackers unable to make much headway. A rolling, transition-type parcours featured just the one categorised climb, the third-category Morello, which came just 14.5km in.
QoM hopeful Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) took the honours, moving herself into third position in the climbers' classification.
The intermediate sprint at 57km – won by Sylvia Zanardi (Human Powered Health) – proved a catalyst for the most successful breakaway efforts of the day, with serial attacker Ana Vitória Magalhāes (Bepink-Bongioanni) escaping the bunch's clutches as she has done nearly every day.
Her gap was always small, but it took the peloton 23km to pull her back, at which point Polish time trial champion Marta Jaskulska (Ceratizit-WNT) took off.
The bunch kept her in sight though, and as the sprint finale in Foligno approached she was brought back into the fold without fuss, as the SD Worx prepared to deliver that superb lead out for their leader.
Results
Giro d'Italia Women, Stage 5: Frontone > Foligno, 108km
1. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime, in 2:38:54
2. Chiara Consonni (Ita) UAE Team ADQ
3. Arlenis Sierra (Cub) Movistar
4. Kathrin Schweinberger (Aut) Ceratizit-WNT
5. Barbara Guarischi (Ita) SD Worx-Protime
6. Vittoria Guazzini (Ita) FDJ-Suez
7. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Aus) Liv-AlUla-Jayco
8. Martina Alzini (Ita) Cofidis
9. Laura Tomaszi (Ita) Laboral Kutxa-Fondación Euskadi
10. Franziska Koch (Ger) dsm-firmenich PostNL, all at s.t.
General Classification after Stage 5
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 12:07:47
2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime, +3s
3. Cecile Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-Suez, +38s
4. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich-PostNL, +49s
5. Kimberley (Le Court) Pienaar (Mus) AG Insurance-Soudal, +51s
6. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon-SRAM, +1:06
7. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) SD Worx-Protime, +1:07
8. Mavi García (Esp) Liv Jayco-AlUla, +1:33
9. Katrine Aalerud (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +1:34
10. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, at s.t.
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