Marianne Vos wins Giro Rosa Stage 6 in Nola as Annemiek van Vleuten retains GC

Updated 16/09/2020 at 14:36 GMT

A dramatic late finish to Stage 6 saw Marianne Vos win her third stage of the 2020 Giro Rosa, with Annemiek van Vleuten able to keep hold of her lead in the general classification.

Marianne Vos

Image credit: Getty Images

CCC-Liv rider Marianne Vos won her 28th Giro Rosa stage, finishing ahead of Britain's Hannah Barnes (Canyon-SRAM) and Lotte Kopecy (Lotto Soudal) on Stage 6 in Nola.

The win represented a reward for the Dutch racer and her team on a stage full of tough ascents. The victory came as something of a surprise after Russian rider Mariia Novolodskaia had a decent lead with 3km remaining until a crash finished off her chances.

The 21-year-old had a 30 second advantage at one point before her crash, and Vos was able to beat Barnes who mistimed her early sprint finish.

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There was drama before the race had even started when a bridge collapse altered the scheduled course of the race and added more climbs to the stage.

In the general classification, Mitchelton-Scott rider Annemiek van Vleuten is 1m 52s ahead of Barnes' teammate Kasia Niewiadoma and 2m 3s ahead of Boels Dolmans' Anna van der Breggan.

Speaking after the race, Vos said: "I was happy that CCC-Liv was driving it on the climbs to drop some of the sprinters, which means that for me it's easier and less hectic in the final.

"For us the goal was to get myself safe to the finish and it's nice if some sprinters are dropped because it's less hectic."