OFFICIAL Stage 5 Results
Laurens De Jong
Hello, Giro d’Italia Women Gamers!
STAGE Grade: A-
I rate today’s stage an A-. They’ve all been A-‘s this week. We rode through the most beautiful country in the world today, five out of five stars for the route. The GC was shaken up a little, it was a tactical race that was decided by a sprint. But nothing overly surprising happened. Enjoyable, but not great.
Route: 5/5 GC: 4/5 Tactics: 4/5 Sprint: 2/5 Surprises: 1/5
This race pretty much turned out the way I predicted. FDJ United – SUEZ on the attack. Not completely without success: Marlen Reusser cracked, Monica Trinca Colonel cracked, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig cracked. But the category 1 climb came too soon, or FDJ didn’t attack hard enough. In the end, Demi Vollering couldn’t shake off Anna van der Breggen, Antonia Niedermaier, or Isabella Holmgren.
I can turn this around. Van der Breggen defended splendidly. The magic of the Maglia Rosa again, parrying each and every attack from FDJ. That’s true, too. But I felt that Vollering had one job to do today: crack van der Breggen. And she didn’t do that. She’s leaving everything up to the final climb to Sestriere, on Saturday.
That’s the same game she played in the Tour de France Femmes in 2024. Leaving it until Sunday to beat Kasia Niewiadoma on l’Alpe d’Huez. And she did beat her, but not by enough — she lost that race. She’s playing a risky game.
I did enjoy the race today, though. It gives me immense pleasure to watch Vollering in the lead, her face betraying absolutely nothing, while making everyone else suffer in the most beautiful stage race in the most beautiful country in the world. Our beautiful sport of cycling.
When she couldn’t crack van der Breggen, she did still have to win the stage. Noblesse oblige. I have no idea why the three she was riding with allowed her to sit in the last wheel for so much time. Niedermaier and Holmgren were pulling the group, while Vollering was stretching her back and otherwise doing as little as possible. No chance for the others. I get it, they all wanted to win the stage. And I don’t know what Vollering would have done, had the others tried to blackmail her. Allow the chasers to catch up? Would Vollering have cared? She would still win the stage.
But it looked odd. Taking the fastest sprinter to the finish line like that.
The old-timers (like me) will tell you a famous joke. “Have you heard? Raymond Poulidor, Lucien van Impe, and Cyrille Guimard were all disqualified after today’s stage. Yeah, they had a van pull them all the way up the Tourmalet. And Eddy Merckx! He was given a big fine. He was pulling that van!”
I have a friend who tried that once, use a car to get up a climb. But another rider held onto him and yet another rider to that rider. Never before had he suffered so much on a climb. The pain to hold onto a car while two others hold onto you is, I’m told, unspeakable.
Those are stories. You don’t often hear of riders actually doing any of that stuff. But today two riders did: Argiro Milaki and Anita Baima were holding on to the Isolmant – Premac – Vittoria car. Baima is an Isolmant rider, Milaki actually rides for Aromitalia Vaiano. Both riders and the driver were disqualified for the remainder of the Giro. I can only assume that Tadej Pogačar himself was pulling the Isolmant team car.
Another Isolmant rider, Valentina Zanzi, did not finish the stage. I don’t know if she chose the honorable way out, or couldn’t hold on to the team car. Regardless, I have not seen this in a pro cycling race, ever. There was an incident in the Giro Next Gen in 2023 when 31 riders were disqualified for holding on to cars up the Stelvio, the funniest thing I have ever seen.
Eva van Agt was pulling the peloton when the TV coverage finally began — ninety kilometers into the race! She got on the radio and whatever she was told, she did that, then she dropped back and I didn’t see her again. She finished in a grupetto a half hour behind Vollering.
It upsets me. The most beautiful stage race in the most beautiful country in the world. And we have riders using cars and TV cameras that don’t even show up for the first two-thirds of the race. Mama mia!
Watch the final kilometers HERE.
Watch the TNT Sports highlights HERE.
Read the TNT Sports report HERE.
Again with the bizarro world! Team Amalia had the most points from the stage, the most points overall, and most riders in the Top-25 (ten). They beat Team Charles today, who had most points from classifications. Team Charles take over the lead from Team Ansel who were third.
On Thursday we go back to the pancake flat variety of stages that the 2026 Giro d’Italia Women specializes in. That means it should be another Elisa Balsamo kind of day.
Standings after stage 5:
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Charles* |
1019 |
2 |
1 |
|
2 |
Team Ansel* |
1005 |
1 |
-1 |
|
3 |
Team Amalia* |
989 |
3 |
0 |
Standings after stage 5 (including adults):
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Kent |
1091 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Charlotte |
1085 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Charles* |
1019 |
4 |
1 |
|
4 |
Team Ansel* |
1005 |
3 |
-1 |
|
5 |
Team Laurens |
994 |
5 |
0 |
|
6 |
Team Amalia* |
989 |
6 |
0 |
|
7 |
Team Kate |
903 |
7 |
0 |
|
8 |
Team Corsa |
862 |
10 |
2 |
|
9 |
Team Ellie |
848 |
9 |
0 |
|
10 |
Team Kari |
819 |
8 |
-2 |
|
11 |
Team Julie |
795 |
11 |
0 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 5:
|
Name |
STAGE RESULTS |
PINK JERSEY |
PURPLE JERSEY |
BLUE JERSEY |
WHITE JERSEY |
POINTS/CLASS |
TOTAL |
PREVIOUS |
CUM. TOTAL |
|
Team Amalia* |
201 |
45 |
10 |
9 |
0 |
64 |
265 |
724 |
989 |
|
Team Ansel* |
159 |
37 |
15 |
6 |
3 |
61 |
220 |
785 |
1005 |
|
Team Charles* |
172 |
43 |
15 |
6 |
3 |
67 |
239 |
780 |
1019 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 5 (including adults):
|
Team Amalia* |
201 |
45 |
10 |
9 |
0 |
64 |
265 |
724 |
989 |
|
Team Ansel* |
159 |
37 |
15 |
6 |
3 |
61 |
220 |
785 |
1005 |
|
Team Charles* |
172 |
43 |
15 |
6 |
3 |
67 |
239 |
780 |
1019 |
|
Team Charlotte |
213 |
53 |
11 |
6 |
8 |
78 |
291 |
794 |
1085 |
|
Team Corsa |
167 |
43 |
9 |
6 |
0 |
58 |
225 |
637 |
862 |
|
Team Ellie |
151 |
36 |
9 |
6 |
8 |
59 |
210 |
638 |
848 |
|
Team Julie |
138 |
38 |
10 |
6 |
3 |
57 |
195 |
600 |
795 |
|
Team Kari |
126 |
34 |
9 |
6 |
0 |
49 |
175 |
644 |
819 |
|
Team Kate |
170 |
42 |
9 |
6 |
0 |
57 |
227 |
676 |
903 |
|
Team Kent |
196 |
45 |
15 |
6 |
3 |
69 |
265 |
826 |
1091 |
|
Team Laurens |
159 |
37 |
15 |
6 |
3 |
61 |
220 |
774 |
994 |
-Laurens.