GIRO DONNE LIVE - WILL VAN VLEUTEN PROVE UNSTOPPABLE IN THE MOUNTAINS?

Her 91st career victory, and one which extends her lead in the general classification.

Marta Cavalli crosses the line 58 seconds later to go into second place overall. Elisa Longo-Borghini comes home in 3rd, some 40 seconds later. We'll wait to find out how much time she has chipped into Mavi Garcia.

Just as I was about to report that Cavalli wasn't gaining ground, if anything losing it, the Maglia Rosa loses it on a left-hand hairpin. She wobbles that wheels off the road and over the bars.

Despite losing her chain, she's back up quickly and seems to have lost only about 20 seconds. Shaken but not stirred, she's still on her way to a second stage victory.

For the second time on these slopes, so they will have seen this before. With Mavi Garcia out of it and Cavalli a minute back on GC, there's no reason for Van Vleuten to take any real risks.

Cavalli is now 30 seconds in arrears, but it looks to have cost the maglia rosa. Van Vleuten isn't pedalling as smoothly as she was. The road continues rising for a while before it drops down again towards Aldeno. Has she got enough in hand to hold off the advances of the talented Italian?

Cavalli is keeping her in sight, which is impressive as it is, but she needs to be careful not to go too deep. With 2km to the summit of the Lago di Cei, as the superior descender, she just needs to be close enough to allow her to regain contact when the road heads downhill again.

Mavi Garcia can't hold onto the wheel of Longo-Borghini. Her second place is gone, it seems certain, but she has easily got enough of a cushion to save the last remaining podium place.

The Italian has done really well not to panic or deflate, just riding within herself and keeping Van Vleuten in her sights. As she sweeps past Faulkner, unfortunately for her, AVV seems to have been taking it relatively easy for the last few kilometres, and picks this moment to go again.

Further back, Elisa Longo-Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) makes her way up to Mavi Garcia.

Easily overhauling Faulkner, who is just about able to hold her wheel. Very different riding styles these two have, with Faulkner staying in the saddle as Van Vleuten stands up on the pedals and wrestles with her bike.

Cavalli, for her part, is able to distance Garcia, who's second spot is looking vulnerable.

She's yet to break the legs of Cavalli and Garcia, but we can see from their faces how hard she's making it for them. Faulkner's lead looks not long for this world. She's just 16 seconds up the road.

6.5km to the summit, they've passed the steepest part but there are still sections close to 10% towards the top.

Jelena Eric absolutely buries herself at the foot of the climb, making it really hard for everyone except her team leader. An attack from Van Vleuten is assured, and as soon as Eric swings up Van Vleuten presses hard on the pedals. As has been the pattern, we're down to three familiar riders at the front of the favourites, with Cavalli and Garcia hanging on to AVV's wheel for dear life.

FDJ's efforts bear fruit, as they were able to catch up with the Trek-Segafredo led faction, as they approach the final climb.

Surprisingly, as hard as these riders have been pushing, Faulkner still has a lead of more than ninety seconds. (Though the blackboard in front of her shows 1'13, so who can say how accurate the timing is.)

Trek-Segafredo forced a split, which distanced them from the top three riders on the general classification. As well as Longo-Borghini and Brand, the group contains QOM Elise Chabbey (Canyon Sram), yesterday's stage winner Juliette Labous (Team DSM) and white jersey Niamh Fisher Black (Team SD Worx).

In the maglia rosa group Cavalii has three FDJ team-mates riding for her to close this one down. Mavi Garcia, who lost contact with that group on the descent, was able to regain contact.

Which is also the first passage of the finish line. She collect 8 points as she does so, which will be of little interest. With her general classification captain on her way home, Faulkner has a free licence to ride for herself today.

Or Chapman has falled back into that group to help her team-mate Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine). Annemiek van Vleuten is a bit of a tentative descender and choosing mostly to sit at the back of this group. Faulkner's lead is now more than 2 minutes.

She's really going for it, and has magnified a modest lead at the summit into a significant one. Even more impressive is that she almost completely stacked it right at the start of the downhill, completing what Dani Rowe described as "the save of the century." She's got 1'18 over Brodie Chapman.

Just shows what I know, eh? The Italian, currently occupying 3rd spot in the general classification kicks out towards the top of the climb, forcing Annemiek van Vleuten and Mavi Garcia to follow, and shattering the peloton far earlier than expected.

Meanwhile Kristen Faulkner is first to pass the summit of the Passo Bordala. They've now got about 18km of descending, via the delightful Lago di Cei, to the sprint point at Aldeno. Then there's a loop around

No summit finish

The riders seem to be tackling the climb at their own chosen tempo, riding as individuals rather than racing tactically in groups.

I don't know if "song of the day" is a thing, but while we wait for the TV pictures to kick in, here's a tune that feels very appropriate to today's parcours.

Two non-starters (both of BikeExchange) as a result of a positive Covid test for Amanda Spatt, and two early abandons due to crashes.

The head of the race is about 3km from the summit. Out front is Kristen Faulkner (BikeExchange-Jayco) who leads by 15 seconds from Brodie Chapman (FDJ Novelle Aquitaine) and Clara Coppenburg (Cofidis) with the peloton a further minute behind.

It's been a reasonably sedate start to the stage, without the concerted effort to make the break that we saw yesterday. The peloton is already onto the first of the two enormous climbs, the Passo Bordala. It's 14.8km in length, with an average gradient of 6.9%. Gaps seem likely, but I'd be surprised if anyone attacks hard on the early slopes. Will Elise Chabbey (Cayon Sram) seek to sew up the mountains jersey? She currently holds a lead of 12 points over Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) in that competition, with a stingy maximum of 16 on offer to any rider first to the top of both climbs.

Bienvenuto to live coverage of Stage 8 of the Giro Donne. We lay our scene in the region of Trento, to the north of Verona. With 3000m of climbing packed into little more than horizontal 100km, it's going to be a difficult day at the office, with some hoping just to avoid the time cut. There are currently only two riders within seventy seconds of the maglia rosa. Do either of them have the legs to dispense with - and displace - Annemiek van Vleuten?