This is nothing new, when Chiara Consonni wins, she puts no limits on her jubilation, on her happiness. And rightly so! In modern cycling, there seems to be no time to enjoy one’s successes anymore, athletes must constantly think about the next stage, the next race, the rest of the season. Consonni, on the other hand, is one of those romantic riders who want to enjoy the moment to the fullest.

And she is by no means a girl who wins little, as at 25 years old she already boasts 18 career victories in the .1 or higher category, not counting all the successes she has achieved on track, such as the world title in the team pursuit in 2022. This is not the first time she raises her arms to the sky at the Giro d’Italia Women either, as she previously did so in Padua in 2022 and in Olbia in 2023, but this year in Volta Mantovana she had the luxury of outsprinting none other than the world champion, Lotte Kopecky. And, needless to say, victory was followed by screams, kisses and hugs for everyone.

For a moment we even thought we would have no bunch sprint at all, since the fugitive Ana Vitória Magalhães (Bepink-Bongioanni) came very close to outfoxing everyone. The Brazilian was two kilometers away from winning the most important race of her career and sending her country, unaccustomed to this kind of sport, into raptures.

But in the end, bunch sprint it was, and in terms of peak speed, Consonni has very few rivals. Other than Kopecky’s rainbow jersey, she defeated another former world champion, her friend and national teammate Elisa Balsamo (Lidl Trek). Just to be on the safe side, Maglia Rosa Elisa Longo Borghini also launched herself into the sprint, finishing ninth. It had been since 1998 that two Italians had not shared a stage win and the Maglia Rosa, at which time Greta Zocca won in Vittorio Veneto and Fabiana Luperini wore the leadership symbol.