Maggie Coles-Lyster made it two top tens in a row for the team at the Giro d’Italia Women, sprinting to seventh place in the 156 km stage 2 from Roncade to Caorle.
The Canadian counted on a strong team effort from Barbara Malcotti, Thalita de Jong, Nina Buijsman, Carlotta Cipressi, Marit Raaijmakers and Lily Williams throughout the day. The squad delivered the 27-year-old into a position to compete as part of the final sprint won by Maglia Rosa Elisa Balsamo (Lidl – Trek).
“I’m happy with today’s result,” Coles-Lyster said afterwards. “I felt pretty good out there. I’m eager to revisit the video; it was nice, but we can do better. But the whole team rode really well today. Not a lot happened during the race, but that finale was exactly as we were expecting.”
Coles-Lyster navigated the final kilometer atop her speedy Factor ONE aero road bike, piloting it to her fourth WorldTour top ten of the season.
“I came into the final kilometer in a good position and focused on Lara [Gillespie] to follow that lead-out,” she explained. “It was a bit like bumper cars, so it was a battle for positions before the last corner. Lily had about nine lives like a cat and kept coming back and helping me. I’m happy with the choices I made, and we can be happy about this result.”
The full team effort once again protected the GC ambitions and defended Human Powered Health’s second position in the team classification in testing hot conditions.
“I think we went back to the car and bought eight bottles just to pour over us at one point,” says Coles-Lyster. “It was certainly warm, and I expect the rest of the week to be similar, but we acclimatised well through heat training with CORE, and the staff helps us really well with lots of ice vests, shlushies and cooling techniques.”
Stage 3 is a little hillier than the opening two days, but there is still a chance it will end in a bunch sprint. The Montenars climb tops out 22 km from the finish and is 2.5 km at 7.2% with the last 1.5 km at 10.8%, and may well be raced aggressively.
Giro d’Italia Women stage 1 results
1 BALSAMO Elisa – Lidl – Trek 3:57:49
2 GILLESPIE Lara – UAE Team ADQ ”
3 CONSONNI Chiara – CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto ”
4 KOOL Charlotte – Fenix-Premier Tech ”
5 GUARISCHI Barbara – Team SD Worx – Protime ”
6 SIERRA Arlenis – Movistar Team ”
7 COLES-LYSTER Maggie – Human Powered Health ”
8 ZAMBELLI Alessia – Top Girls Fassa Bortolo ”
9 VEENHOVEN Nienke – Team Visma | Lease a Bike ”
10 ZANETTI Linda – Uno-X Mobility ”
Stage Gallery
Photos: GettySport and HPHCycling
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