Team DSM-Filmenig had a hard-fought sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia Donnay to put Juliette Lavos on the overall podium, and the French rider managed to move into third place overall in Canelli.

Things looked very promising during the 102.7km stage when main rival Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) was separated on the Carosso climb, but Ewers returned on the run-in to the finish.

An unfortunate mid-race crash forced stage 5 winners Antonia Niedermeier (Canyon-SRAM) and Urschka Zigato (Jayco Alura) to abandon the race.

"I wanted to tire everyone out. Yesterday was a really hard day, but today was good. I wanted to drop the other guys and get on the podium," Lovace said after stage 6.

Her teammates Esme Peperkamp and Francesca Baralle pushed hard on the climb to Castino, reducing the peloton to 42 riders at the summit. Ewerth and Niedermeier were also there, but the 20-year-old German crashed shortly after and abandoned the race with injuries.

Raboose gained a three-second bonus second in the intermediate sprint, while Peppelkamp and Barale were back in front just before the climb to Carosso.

When Annemiek van Fruten (Movistar Team) attacked on top of Laboose, Evers was relatively far back in the pack, in 12th position, and was separated from Laboose and the other GC contenders.

Labouse briefly lost contact with that group, but soon returned.

"I had a plan to attack on the last climb, so I went full attack, but Anne-Mike fought back and it was really hard. At the top, Evers fell off and it was a pretty good situation, but it all came back," said Lovace.

In the group of seven behind van Vleuten, only Niamh Fischer-Black (Team SD Works), Mavi Garcia (Liv Racing TeqFind), and Lovuth were able to hold off the next group with Evers taking turns. With 7.7km to the finish, Ewers and seven other riders returned. Then, just before the 700-meter finish climb, another group of 20 riders returned.

In the uphill sprint, Labouse lost three seconds to Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ), Fischer Black, Garcia, and Ane Santesteban (Team Jayco Alura) but was able to equal the time to Gaia Lealiini (Lidl-Trek) and Ewards. Ewers and Gaia Lealini (Lidl-Trek). In the overall standings, he is in third place, 36 seconds behind Ewers and 20 seconds behind Learrini.

"Mentally it's a good sign. I'm really happy and looking forward to the next days where I will continue to fight to stay on the podium and to get better positions. Great work from everyone today and a really good day for us as a team.