After winning stage 4 of the 2022 Giro d'Italia Donne and taking the overall lead, Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar Team), who was more than five minutes ahead of all but two of his rivals, was adamant that he would not let himself get ahead of himself and take the race "one day at a time."

In 2015, Van Vleuten, already thinking about the next day's time trial on stage 4, learned this lesson the hard way. She lost two minutes in the crosswind and ultimately finished the race in third place, 1:39 behind.

Maria Rosa made it through Tuesday's stage 5 without incident and stayed out of trouble for most of Wednesday's stage 6.

On the final climb to Bergamo Alta, van Vleuten was in 15th place. Coincidentally, however, Elise Chaby (Canyon-SRAM), who was running just ahead of van Vleuten, crashed when the road surface changed from asphalt to cobblestones.

Van Vleuten, who had to start from a standing start, was on the back foot as the attack for the stage win began to fly further up the road, but the 39-year-old gave it her all, as always.

Her GC lead was truly in jeopardy as Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ), second overall by 25 seconds, bridged to a move by Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) and Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma). The Spanish champion quickly went to the front of the pack and extended her advantage.

Van Vleuten herself chased the last spurt of the climb as hard as she could to regain contact with the group of favorites. He arrived at the back of the pack just as Longo Borghini attacked and continued his chase on the winding descent.

The gap to the leading trio was at most 11 seconds, but Van Vleuten chased them alone and closed the gap with 1.1 km to the finish. There was also a heart-stopping moment when one car came onto the course at the same time, but the driver quickly backed his car up and all competitors were able to bypass it.

In the last kilometer, Maria Rosa relaxed somewhat and was able to stay with the wheel as the rest of the field fought for the stage win. Van Vleuten crossed the finish line in sixth place, maintaining his GC lead ahead of the three mountain stages that will determine the winner of the Giro d'Italia.

Van Vleuten enters the mountain stage 25 seconds ahead of Garcia and 54 seconds ahead of Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), five minutes ahead of fourth-placed Longo Borghini, who is now in the lead, with Garcia in third and Cavalli in fifth.