| The fourth stage of the 16th Giro d'Italia femminile had two absolute protagonists: Holland's Mirjam Melchers and New Zealand's Sarah Ulmer. The former, also known as Mrs. Jean Paul Van Poppel (and the former profesional rider is also her coach, btw) took line honours and moved up into third overall, while the latter continued Oceania's "fighting tradition" in this race, and was away for most of the stage. 119 riders took the start of this 111-km. journey both starting and finishing at Castiglione delle Stiviere near Mantua, and held under sunny skies and in ideal weather conditions. After five days inside Veneto territory, the race moved to Lombardy. And after five days of almost completely flat riding, the Giro d'Italia girls encountered some hills at last: the Castiglione and Solferino Cat. 3 ascents, both to be climbed in each of the three laps of a 27-km. circuit the leg consisted of. Sarah Ulmer was on the attack since the early kilometres: 10 km. into the stage, the Kiwi girl started the fireworks, along with one of America's best-known female riders, Lynn Gaggioli, racing for Italy's Michela Fanini Record Rox team, as well as Noemi Cantele, a teammate of GC leader Nicole Braendli. They gained up to 20" but were brought back five kilometres later. Tour of Trentino winner Swetlana Bubnenkova took the mountain prime at Castiglione, with Stahurskaya and Pucinskaite making an all-former Soviet top three complete. Results were the same at the top of the second ascent, but not before the peloton split in two, with riders mostly from Team Bigla (the Maglia Rosa holder obviously included), Nobili Rubinetterie, Team Bianchi-Aliverti, Fenixs, Bizkaia and SATS up front, and a second, strung out chasing group trying to close down the gap. Towards the end of the first lap, Sarah Ulmer attacked again, this time on a solo move that earned her a 16-second lead as she crossed the line for the first time. Her advantage rose to 50" when climbing the Castiglione asc http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=8254
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