Giro d'Italia Women 2026 Stage 6 - Lidl-Trek's Elisa Balsamo claims fourth victory of the week in bunch sprint, Anna van der Breggen remains in pink

Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Balsamo surged to her fourth sprint victory of the Giro d’Italia Women 2026, beating a stacked field to bolster her lead in the maglia rossa.

After two hard days in the mountains, it was a welcome break for the peloton with a largely flat 160km route on the longest stage of the race.

The four-rider breakaway formed of Camilla Bezzone (Mendelspeck E-Work), Sharon Spimi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo), Gaia Segato (Vini Fantini-BePink) and Irene Cagnazzo (Vini Fantini-BePink) set off from the flag drop and were allowed an advantage of four minutes before they were eventually reeled in with 55.8km to go.

Uno-X Mobility, who are still without a victory this year, utilised an unclassified climb through cobbled narrow streets to split open the peloton with 63.7km to go, seeing the bunch fractured.

Among those caught out were GC hopefuls Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) and Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), who found themselves in the chasing group behind, whilst there was further concern for Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and Urska Zigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) who were in an entirely separate group over 30 seconds behind.

With the breakaway caught by Uno-X Mobility’s pace setting, Vollering’s group would eventually rejoin with 55.8km to go, whilst it was up to Reusser and her Movistar team-mates to time-trial it back to the head of the race.

With everything back together, the only intermediate sprint of the day in Ospitaletto saw sprinters and GC riders go head-to-head for points and time respectively, with Vollering interested but ultimately marshalled and missing out to Balsamo, Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime) and Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Giorgia Serena (Mendelspeck E-Work) launched a lone attack from 22km to go, growing a gap to a minute before she was caught with 9km to go as a bunch sprint looked certain.

A crash in the peloton during a technical finale saw British national champion Millie Couzens (Fenix-Premier Tech) amongst those to be brought down, resulting in a strung out peloton in the final kilometre.

Maggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health) launched her sprint with 300m to go but was ultimately unable to hold off the maglia rossa in Balsamo, who passed her in the final 150m to claim her fourth victory in the race ahead of Coles-Lyster and Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla-Jayco).

Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) retains the maglia rosa with three stages to go.

Unbeatable.

And she could still be after another win tomorrow?

"Today was a good day. It was hard to see all the people on the beach but for us, it was a working day so it was a beautiful area to ride through. And in the end, everything is safe and everything is fine so it was a good day.

"For the general classification riders, that's the difficult thing. You don't want to disturb the sprint, I don't want to sprint but you also don't want to lose time so especially when you have these corners in the end, you know it can be dangerous and there can be crashes so you try to be infront and try to do it as safe as possible, but it's always hectic.

"For sure, there will be attacks and riders trying to get into the breakaway, but I think the main goal for us [tomorrow] is to come to the finish line and save as much energy as possible and don't lose time like today."

No change.

1. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) 15:55:13

2. Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) +1'00"

3. Antonia Niedermaier (CANYON-SRAM zondacrypto) +1'24"

4. Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) +2'01"

5. Marlen Reusser (Movistar) +2'03"

6. Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) +2'12"

7. Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) +2'33"

8. Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) +2'38"

9. Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) +3'21"

10. Urska Zigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) +3'26"

"When you have the best leadout in the world, it is just easy. It's never easy but with Lucinda [Brand], it's just so much easier because I don't have to fight for position, I just need to trust her and I know she is the best one.

"A lot of sprinters thought it was a good opportunity today so I could see a lot of full leadouts in the last kilometres, and me, Fleur [Moors] and Lucinda were just jumping and at one point we found the perfect place behind Fenix-Premier Tech. And then this morning on the bus, we said we wanted to take the corner at 1.3km at the front, I don't care if I'm in second position as I just wanted to be safe and I could manage somehow. But Lucinda was so strong, she brought me till 200m to go, which was perfect.

"It's never easy, I need to arrive at Sestriere [Stage 8 finish] first but yesterday, we also did the intermediate sprint because we really want this jersey. It's not going to be easy, but I think we're in a really good position.

1. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) 3:54:02

2. Maggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health) ST

3. Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) ST

4. Celia Gery (FDJ United-SUEZ) ST

5. Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) ST

6. Gladys Verhulst-Wild (AG Insurance-Soudal) ST

7. Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) ST

8. Lily Williams (Human Powered Health) ST

9. Alessia Zambelli (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) ST

10. Alexandra Volstad (EF Education-Oatly) ST

She's done it again!

She stuck to Maggie Coles-Lyster's wheel before easing past her with 150m to go to overtake and claim her fourth victory of the race.

Another dominant sprint to show why she is dominating the sprints this year.

As a result of that crash and things being strung out, Elisa Balsamo comes to the front of the peloton with her Lidl-Trek teammate Lucinda Brand.

Maggie Coles-Lyster is on Balsamo's wheel and the Human Powered Health rider launches from 300m but can she hold off the Italian sprinter?

A nasty crash in the bunch sees the British national champion Millie Couzens (Fenix-Premier Tech) go down along with a number of others as Movistar also fall victim of going wide on a roundabout.

It doesn't appear anyone has come off badly but it'll be a blow to her teammate Charlotte Kool.

The defending champion has done this plenty of times before for Lara Gillespie as she takes to the front and keeps the pace high at the front of the peloton.

They're really trying to string out this peloton as they attempt to help Lara Gillespie to victory.

The sprint trains are forming, with Fenix-Premier Tech, alongside Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto and SD Worx-Protime occupying the right hand side and Liv AlUla Jayco on the right, with FDJ United-SUEZ.

There's a lot of fighting for positions, with the GC riders also staying safe. UAE Team ADQ were missing for a while but have just suddenly come to the front with Elisa Longo Borghini coming to aid her team.

And just like that, Giorgia Serena (Mendelspeck E-Work) is caught and we are heading for a bunch sprint.

As we enter the final 10km, the advantage to our lone attacker has significantly reduced, with the peloton getting their first sight of the Italian.

With that in mind, here's a look at the technical finale, which means the sprinters will not see the finish line until 250m to go.

As our lone leader dips under the 15km archway, she's grown her advantage to 56".

It's enough for the peloton to reel her back in but as Dani Rowe gives us a preview of the finish, we see how technical and narrow this finish is.

Could this play into Serena's hands?

It was an ambitious attack by the 22-year-old but has she timed this well?

She's being allowed to grow her gap to 45" as the kilometres tick over.

Any second-guessing from the bunch could see this advantage stick.

Giorgia Serena (Mendelspeck E-Work) has decided to take the peloton by surprise with a lone attack.

She might have expected to get some company but the Italian managed to take everyone by surprise and is just going to attempt to time-trial to the end, with an advantage of 20".

There was no reaction from the peloton, who are not worried just yet by the lone warrior.

She'll be going for the sprint today but her catching skills weren't quite up to scratch earlier.

Speaking to TNT Sports expert Dani Rowe, the Fenix-Premier Tech sprinter said:

Not plain-sailing for Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) with Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) also interested in claiming some extra seconds.

She's quickly marshalled by SD Worx-Protime and followed by Anna van der Breggen, with Femke Gerritse taking the four bonus seconds.

1. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) 12pts 6"

2. Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime) 8pts 4"

3. Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) 6pts 2"

4. Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) 3pts

5. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) 1pt