Good Team dsm-firmenich PostNL support sees Juliette Labous climb to 3rd place on Toano

With a time trial and sprint stage behind them, the Giro d’Italia Women peloton were faced with the first mountain-top finish of the race on Tuesday afternoon as the stage finished atop Toano and its five percent average gradients for 12 kilometres. Strong team support saw Juliette Labous climb with the best and take a good third place finish on the day.
Rolling out from the start in Sabbioneta the pace was high in the bunch as multiple teams looked to make the day’s breakaway. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL kept their proverbial powder dry, looking to stay safe in the group and save their energy for the deep finale. Grouping up well throughout the stage, the team stayed within the bunch when the breakaway eventually went clear, before the pace ramped up ahead of the climb to the line.
In the peloton, some great positioning work by Franziska Koch and Josie Nelson saw Labous to the fore as they turned onto the ascent with Eleonora Ciabocco supporting her as the bunch thinned down on the ascent where a high pace was set. It became a race of attrition as the kilometres ticked by and the gradients stung, with Labous tenaciously fighting amongst the elite GC group. The climb flattened off a bit in the final two kilometres before kicking up to the line once more, and that’s where the stage winning attack was made as things became tactical in the Maglia Rosa group. On the steep pitches to the finish, Labous gave her all and took third place on the stage; as the team moves up to the same position in the overall GC standings too.
Speaking after the stage Labous expressed: “It started with a fast pace in the bunch, and no attacks could go because the pace was really high as everyone wanted to be in the break. Which was fine for us at it made the race a bit harder. The girls, especially Josie and Franzi, did a fantastic job to position me going into the climb. Unfortunately, Nienke had a puncture at the bottom of the climb but Canyon did the pace we wanted and had planned to do so it worked out for us. I felt like it was quite hard at the bottom but I could ride into it and felt I had good legs. Podium is a nice stage result for us and with the bonus seconds too, I think we can be happy with today and are looking forward to the next stages.”
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Kelvin Dekker added: “Today was a big day for us in the terms of it being the first real climbing test of this race. We were really well prepared for it as a team and had a nice plan for it. Josie and Franzi did a brilliant job on the flat, making sure that everyone got their bottles and ice all day, before doing the positioning work going onto the climb. That was really amazing to see. In the peloton Nienke punctured at the bottom of the climb where Francesca stopped to help and swap bikes, but it meant we missed our climbers a bit further up the ascent. Eleonora stayed with Juliette for as long as she could and did a good job, before she too had to let go of the wheels. Then it was over to Juliette. The pace was really high from the beginning and that was great for us as we had hoped and planned to do something similar. Our original goal for today was not to lose any time with Juliette on the punchy finish climb, but now we could even take some bonus seconds back on Longo Borghini in the pink jersey. I think Juliette showed she was really strong so it was a promising day in terms of that. Let’s hope tomorrow we have less misfortune and we can go into the next stages in a good way.”
Unfortunately, Becky Storrie was involved in a crash on the run-in to the climb today. Cleared by in-race medical staff to continue and complete the stage, x-rays after the finish have sadly revealed a broken collarbone; her second of the season, so naturally Storrie will take no further part in the race.