Barbara Malcotti scored the best Grand Tour result so far in her career on stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia, climbing to sixth place on the 142 km stage from Castello Tesino to Pianezze.
The result marks the 25-year-old’s fourth Women’s WorldTour top-ten of the season and propels her up the GC at the midpoint of La Corsa Rosa.
“I’m so happy, I came here with big ambition, so I’m happy with this top-ten,” Malcotti said afterwards. “This result today pays back all the bad things, unlucky moments and injuries in preparation, that happened in the past years.”
Malcotti held her own on the final 11 km at 7.4% climb, battling with the other GC contenders on its steep slopes.
“Movistar forced the pace, but I just stuck to my rhythm,” she explains. “When Reusser lost all of her teammates, they slowed down, and I chased back on, staying on my rhythm.”
Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-Protime) launched an attack on the climbs midsection to ramp up the pace, but could not sustain the effort, with Malcotti remaining with the group of new Maglia Rosa Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team).
“I just tried to manage my effort to the finish line when Marlen launched a long attack,” says Malcotti. “I knew that if I could survive until 2 km to go, I could get a good result.”
The sixth-place finish is extra motivation for Malcotti going into the second half of the race.
“I’ve been dreaming since I was young to get a good result at the Giro,” she says. “Maybe this year it will come. The Giro is far from over, so now it’s time to recover and look to the next day, and I will try to score some more positions on Monte Nerrone by doing a good performance.”
Malcotti could count on teammates Yurani Blanco, Giada Borghesi, Carlotta Cipressi, Ruth Edwards, Katia Ragusa, and Silvia Zanardi on the valley roads towards the final climb.
“My teammates did a great job all day protecting me. We were a bit behind and stuck behind a crash at the bottom of the climb, but Carlotta did a fantastic job of bringing me back.”
After starting in the north of the country, the Giro is now heading south through Italy on its way to the final destination at the Imola F1 circuit. The remaining stages include a flat sprint day tomorrow and then the stage 7 mountain epic to Monte Nerrone, sandwiched between two Classics-style days in the hills.
Photos: GettySport
Giro d’Italia Women stage 4 results
1 GIGANTE Sarah – AG Insurance – Soudal Team 3:56:22
2 LONGO BORGHINI Elisa – UAE Team ADQ 0:25
3 REUSSER Marlen – Movistar Team ”
4 NIEDERMAIER Antonia – CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto 0:34
5 ROOIJAKKERS Paulina – Fenix-Deceuninck 0:50
6 MALCOTTI Barbara – Human Powered Health 0:56
7 HOLMGREN Isabella – Lidl – Trek 1:01
8 DE SCHEPPER Lore – AG Insurance – Soudal Team ”
9 KASTELIJN Yara – Fenix-Deceuninck 1:03
10 ŽIGART Urška – AG Insurance – Soudal Team 1:12
