On stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia, Annemiek van Vleuten dominated in Cesena to take the stage win and the maglia rosa. The Movistar rider attributed her success in part to the words of Johan Cruyff, a three-time Ballon d'Or winner as a Dutch soccer player in the 1970s, who said, "Attack is the best way to defend."

"When the stage was announced, today was not the day I thought, 'Let's go for it. I saw two crazy descents when I scouted yesterday and I didn't want to be under pressure," said van Breuten, who was awarded the Magilla Rosa at the finish of stage 4. [I thought about Johan Cruyff from the Netherlands, the famous soccer player from Barcelona, who always said, "Attack is the best way to defend."

The fourth stage of the Giro Donne was not supposed to be one of the GC deciders. Van Vleuten initially targeted the three mountain days of stage 7: Prevalle to Passo Maniva, stage 8: Rovereto to Ardeno, and stage 9: San Michele Alladige to San Lorenzo d'Orsino.

Still an important stage, the 120.9 km race in Cesena was the first real hilly stage on the mainland after a time trial and two sprint stages in Sardinia.

The route included three categorized climbs, plus one non-categorized but unimportant climb in the last 12 km before the descent into Cesena.

It was not the climbs that worried van Vleuten, a two-time Giro champion in 2018 and 2019 and a mountain specialist. Instead, it was the descent that caught her attention when she scouted the route on Sunday's rest day.

"I thought it would be easier to attack, and that way the descent would be easier. Today was about staying safe and staying out of trouble. I found a gap and went for it," Van Vleuten said.

Van Vleuten and breakaway riders Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) and Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) attacked the second category, Colle del Barbot, with just over 50km to go.

Cavalli was separated on the final climb and finished third, but Van Vleuten and Garcia sprinted for the win, giving the Dutchman the advantage and the stage win and the maglia rosa.

Van Vleuten is now 25 seconds behind Garcia in second place, 57 seconds behind Cavalli in third, and 5 minutes ahead of the chasing pack led by Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) in fourth.

Van Vleuten finished third in 2017 and abandoned the race in 2020 after breaking her wrist in a crash on stage 7 while in the lead.

"I take it one day at a time. That's the lesson I learned in my first year in the Giro d'Italia. Tomorrow there will be wind and anything can happen.