Stage 5 of the 2023 Giro d'Italia put a more than certain Maria Rosa on the shoulders of Annemiek van Fruten (Movistar Team), who had a time advantage over most of the other GC contenders, and shook up the overall standings.

The most difficult day of the 2023 Giro, which was considered the queen stage before the race, featured a climb up the Passo del Lupo by Cima Coppi early in the day and two more sectional climbs in the final stages.

The only rider to beat Van Vleuten by nine seconds was Germany's Antonia Niedermeier. In what was her first Giro Donne, the 20-year-old Canyon Slam racer summoned all her courage and attacked alone on the final climb to take the stage win.

Including the time bonuses, Niedermeier was more than a minute and a half ahead of the rest of the field and moved into second place, 2:07 behind 14th overall; she also took the lead in the U-23 class and will wear the white jersey on stage 7.

Further back, Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) recovered from a crash in Passo del Lupo to return to the chase group and finish the stage in 5th place, protecting her 3rd overall.

However, he lost time to Van Vleuten and is now 2:18 behind.

Juliette Labouse (DSM-Filmenig) moved up from fifth to fourth place, but nearly doubled her lead over Van Vleuten to 3 minutes. Gaia Lealini (Lidl-Trek) was in fifth place, 14 seconds behind the French climber and will be the team's protected rider after Elisa Longo Borghini, who was in second place overall on this stage, crashed on the final descent.

The Italian champion crossed the finish line 7:33 behind, dropping her to 17th place.

Mavi Garcia (Liv Racing TeqFind) and Erika Magnardi (UAE Team ADQ) were both 3:39 behind in sixth and seventh place, followed by Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ). Marta Cavalli lost 4.5 minutes early in the stage and fell to 13th place.

Ane Santesteban (Team Jayco AlUla) also dropped two places and is now in 9th with 4:57 to go. Meanwhile, Niamh Fischer-Black (Team SD Worx) jumped up from 19th to 10th overall, just six seconds behind the Basque climber. Sylvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) and Femme van Empel (Team Jumbo-Visma) are another eight seconds behind.

Despite a two-minute advantage with four stages to go, van Breutenen will have to keep his nerve to win his fourth Giro d'Italia Donne.

The last 40km of stage 6 includes a 5km, 5% climb to Castino, a 2km, 7% climb to Carosso, and a 2.7km climb to the finish overlooking Canelli.

Stage 7 is the second hardest stage of the race, traversing the Ligurian Alps. The long but gentle Ginestro Pass in the first 40 km is not as steep as the Lupo Pass. But the subsequent Il Vigneto is a 5km climb through the olive groves of inland Liguria, with an average gradient of 6% and a maximum of 11%.

The last 15 km also includes the Cima Paravenna (average 5.5%, just over 6 km), familiar to the men's Trofeo Liguria. At the top, the race continues along a mountain ridge until the 5km marker, where a short descent leads directly to the finish climb.

After a rest day, which also serves as a transfer day to Sardinia, the last two stages are undulating but not too challenging.

Stage 8 finishes with a climb to Sassari. The final stage has a 5km, 5% climb in the first 10km that could serve as a springboard for a breakaway group. The climb to Tempio Pauzania in the middle of the stage is 12km long, but the average gradient is only just over 4%, making the remaining 50km to the finish more difficult and favoring the peloton over attackers.