The day could not have gone any better for Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) who secured her first victory on the Women's WorldTour at the queen stage 5 of the Giro Donne and in doing so, moved into second place overall behind maglia rosa Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar).
In what was a solo winning performance and the biggest win of her career, the 20-year-old crossed the finish line in Ceres just nine seconds ahead of runner-up and Van Vleuten.
"I'm very happy with this win. I can't really believe it! The pace on the first climb was really hard, and I dropped from the leaders. Luckily, we had a good group and worked to catch the leaders," Niedermaier explained the details that led to her solo breakaway.
"I knew if I wanted to try something, I just needed to go for it. I was glad to be able to choose my own lines on the descents, and I kept pushing on the climbs. I felt really strong until the final 1.5km, which hurt like hell. I had the Sport Directors in the car pushing me and giving me a lot of motivation.
"I was so done in the end I didn't hear anything from the crowd in the final few hundred metres; I just wanted to cross the line."
Niedermaier was part of the Canyon-SRAM Generation programme in 2022 and moved up to the Canyon-SRAM WorldTeam this season.
She was added to the Canyon-SRAM roster for this year's nine-day Giro d'Italia Donne, which is her first-ever race on the Women's WorldTour.
The German all-rounder was part of a selection that separated from the main field on the cima coppi, Passo del Lupo, and while that nine-rider group broke apart, it eventually reconnected with 35km to go.
Niedermaier then attacked on the penultimate ascent and crested the top alone. Van Veluten, followed by Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), launched a chase, however, both riders took risks on the final descent which saw them come off their bikes in separate crashes on the same corner.
Van Vleuten got back up and finished second on the day and increased her lead in the overall classification. Longo Borghini finished the stage at 7:33 down and she was later taken to the hospital for additional medical checks.
Niedermaier's performance moved up her up twelve spots and into second overall, now at 2:07 behind Van Vleuten. Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) remains in third overall at 2:18 back. Niedermaier is also the Giro Donne's leader in the best young rider category.
"I wasn't expecting this, and now to have the Best Young Rider jersey is really nice. Big thanks to our staff for all their hard work," she said.
