Amanda Spratt (BikeExchange-Jayco), who led the pace at the front of the chase group on stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia, again looked like the powerful rider who made the GC podium in the longest race on the women's calendar in 2018 and 2019. What's more, she felt like one, too.

After a period of inexplicable underachievement, disappointment, and doubt turned out to be caused by iliac artery endomysial fibrosis, the Australian underwent surgery in October 2021 and began a long buildup to get back on track at the beginning of the year. After spending most of the season in a support role, the announcement that she would be the team's GC leader at the Giro d'Italia Donne seemed like a good sign that she was getting back to her best, and Monday was proof of that.

The fourth stage of the 10-day race, after a rest day to move from Sardinia to the mainland, featured the first climb and, somewhat surprisingly, the first major GC move. Spratt finished fifth on this stage and may have lost more time than she would have liked to overall leader Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), but the BikeExchange-Jayco rider, who was in the wilderness for so long on the 120km stage to Cesena, she performance proved that she was once again in pursuit.

"I'm really happy with this result," Spratt said in an audio interview posted on the team's Twitter account.

"We knew the climb at the 70km mark was going to be the deciding factor, and the girls did a great job leading the pack. From there it exploded and we were in the pack."

Faulkner initially joined Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), and Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) in a lead attack on Colle del Barbot with 50km remaining. She jumped into the group. However, she broke away from the leading trio and rejoined the chase group that included Spratt.

"In the second group was Kristen, and she did a really great job," Spratt said. After that, the gap to the front was gone, but I figured I'd do what I could with the pack behind me."

Doing what she could in the back group meant that after Faulkner, who also won the time trial on day one, dropped out of the back group, Spratt was always in charge of the pace. even though the bulk of the work was on the 34-year-old Spratt's shoulders, she was quick in the final stages of the race. responded, chased the move, and secured fifth place on the stage after a sprint for second place from a breakaway group of Van Houten, Garcia, and Cavalli.

"It was a very hot stage today and I think a lot of riders suffered, but I think we got some answers for the GC riders," said BikeExchange-Jayco sport director Martin Vestby. 'We're very pleased with Spratty's performance today. 0]

Spratt is currently in sixth place overall in the Giro d'Italia Donnay. However, few riders were willing to help Spratt's chase on stage 4, which opened up a huge gap in the three-man battle for the lead. Spratt is 5:14 behind Van Hulten and 4:17 off the podium, but only 14 seconds behind fourth-place Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo).

More important for Spratt and the team, however, was not the overall standings but the strength shown: the 34-year-old Spratt appeared to have reached a turning point in her recovery. This bodes well for the tough mountain stages from stage 7 to stage 9, the rest of the season, and the big goals ahead. [Personally, I'm really happy. It's the first time since my surgery that my legs have come back at a really good level."