Giro d'Italia Women 2026 Stage 8 recap: Demi Vollering wins shortened stage atop Colle delle Finestre, Anna van der Breggen retains maglia rosa

We sadly didn't get a particularly long day on a stage that was already among the shortest of the week, thanks to the weather playing havoc at the top of the Colle delle Finestre.

An initial breakaway of 8 riders was formed early on in the stage but as soon as the peloton hit the slope of the Finestre, this was caught and the GC riders forged their paths upwards. With about 10km to go, the peloton had been reduced to the top four GC riders and we were told the stage would end 1KM from the summit of the Finstre.

This meant that Demi Vollering's aim of taking the 1 minute she needed to take the maglia rosa from Anna van der Breggen was nigh on impossible. Particularly as the SD Worx-Protime rider kept the pace up at the front, denying any attacks.

With just under 200 metres or so to go, Vollering launched her sprint and distanced the maglia rosa but not by much. Lidl-Trek's Isabella Holmgren finished second and Canyon-SRAM's Antonia Niedermaier finished just behind.

Anna van der Breggen retains a healthy lead into tomorrow's final stage, where we'll likely see plenty of fireworks on a hilly final day of this year's Giro.

Team cars being stopped just short of the finish line as we have no deviation for cars at this point in the climb, but alas. The stage has been won, and what an exciting day, if not a bit short.

🥇Demi Vollering

🥈Isabella Holmgren

🥉Antonia Niedermeier

A quick attack out of the final switchback let her show her strength, beating Niedermaier, Holmgren and Van der Breggen.

We're deep into gravel territory and it looks like Anna van der Breggen is just focusing on preventing anyone else making a move. Will the other riders be looking for a stage win instead of taking any meaningful time off of the maglia rosa?

One question is whether the flamme rouge banner has been moved to the new position further down the mountain - will the riders know when or where to start their sprint?

She might not be thinking about launching a big attack, but she's definitely keeping a high pace to stop anyone else wanting to have a go.

Demi Vollering is looking like she's starting to feel uncomfortable with the pace, as the maglia rosa moves up to the front.

She's still hanging on to Demi Vollering's wheel as we approach the closing kilometres of today's stage, as is Antonia Niedermeier - an epic performance from the Canyon-SRAM rider. Isabella Holmgren has managed to get back on and tries to go over the top of the group.

Remember she's 1' behind Anna van der Breggen on the GC, and with the kilometres disappearing, she'll have to make something stick to be able to drop van der Breggen and take the maglia rosa.

She's on the move again, but so far Antonia Niedermaier, Anna van der Breggen and Isabella Holmgren are able to respond.

Looks like the pace is ramping up, with Demi Vollering pushing on with some seated accelerations. Antonia Niedermaier of Canyon-SRAM was able to respond and the group remains together.

Right, that's thrown everyone's plans out the window! So will we see anyone attacking earlier as the stage now finishes 1km from the top of the climb?

We're moving onto the gravel section now, but we've had word that, "due to an unable sheet of ice that could fall onto the road, for safety reasons the stage will finish approx 1km before the Colle delle Finestre QOM points."

She's done a magnificent job pacing Demi Vollering up the Finestre, and Lauren Dickson has taken over for her FDJ-Suez teammate. Urska Zigart is also being dropped.

FDJ-Suez still doing most of the work on the front of the peloton, with Anna van der Breggen, Elisa Longo Borghini and other GC riders still on their wheels.

You hear that a lot, but she's riding a clever race and just sticking to her own pace. She is still within sight of the very shrunken peloton, but there's no point in going into the red when we still have so much climbing left to do. Well, the riders do. I don't. I'm eating Wotsits and sitting at my desk.

Apparently the cars are being moved near the top of the climb, but how far or what the situation for the rest of the race is, we still don't know. Maybe we need Homer Simpson, sorry, Mr Plow to get over there and clear things up.