Not even a crash on the final descent could stop Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) from winning stage 8 of the Giro Donne.

The Dutchwoman, wearing a maglia rosa as overall leader, overcooked in a corner, but appeared unscathed and recovered her bike to take the solo win on Ardeno.

"I made a stupid and unnecessary mistake on the descent. I could have made the Maglia Rosa more certain," said Van Vleuten, who appeared to have only minor abrasions on his arm after the race.

Van Vleuten had to brake hard and unclip his left foot to avoid a crash on stage 6 when Elise Chaby (Canyon-SRAM) crashed when the road surface changed from asphalt to cobblestones.

She was not so lucky this time.

After attacking on the final 9.3km climb to Lago di Sei, Van Vleuten bridged to breakaway Kristen Faulkner (BikeExchange-Jayco), passed her, and began the descent to Ardeno alone.

Overshooting a corner with 5km to go, she hit a roadside post and fell to the grass. She quickly got back on her bike and was able to celebrate her stage 8 victory by 59 seconds over second-placed Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope).

"It was a good stage today. I'm very happy to win and to extend my lead on GC. The team did a very good job today and they did a great job leading out. I had a hard time on the 10km climb today," Van Vleuten said, referring to the crash.

"I made a little mistake on the downhill. But I knew I couldn't turn the corner and instead of crashing on the road I chose the grass, which was good. It was a controlled crash, but not what I wanted. Everything is fine with myself, nothing is wrong. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's stage."

Van Vleuten extended his overall lead. Meanwhile, Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) dropped to third place, 3:42 back, as the race heads to Saturday's stage 9 from San Michele Alladige to San Lorenzo d'Orsino.