Van Vleuten dominates fourth stage and is new leader of the Giro d'Italia

Havana, July 4 (RHC) - Dutch Olympic and world road champion Annemiek Van Vleuten won the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia on Monday and is the new leader of the prestigious cycling race.

At almost 40 years of age and fresh from an injury, Van Vleuten (Movistar) continues to show her potential and dominated the stage with a time of 3.13.13 hours, followed by Spain's Mavi García (1 second behind) and Italy's Marta Cavalli (43 seconds behind).

With her victory, the Movistar Team leader took over the leader's pink jersey, 25 seconds ahead of Mavi and 57 seconds ahead of Cavalli.

"Van Vleuten makes as always from attack the best defense. He takes the 4th stage and is the new Maglia Rosa after a very hard course and intense heat around Cesena. The leadership of the Giro 2022 is already ours," Movistar wrote on social media.

Cuban cycling star and Van Vleuten's Movistar teammate, Arlenis Sierra, finished 26th on Monday, 11.07 minutes behind Van Vleuten.

In the general classification, the Cuban is in 24th place, 11.30 minutes behind her teammate, currently considered the best rider in the world.