WHILE the main cycling focus this week has been on the Tour de France, Bendigo rider Peta Mullens has been hard at work on Italian roads.
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Mullens is riding for the British Wiggle Honda team in the 10-day Giro Rosa - the biggest women’s road race of the cycling season and considered the female equivalent of Le Tour.
She was sitting in 31st place overall in the general classification after the sixth leg of the event on Thursday, dropping from 23rd earlier in the week.
Her best result was 14th on the 118km fourth stage from Alba Adriatica to Jesi.
“The run into the finish was technical and hectic and I was a little lost and out of my element,” she wrote on her blog at petamullens.com.
“It’s been a long time since I was in a sprint for myself and I was too far back to really contest it after a crash on the second-last corner.”
About 10 Australians are among about 150 women taking part in the Giro Rosa, half of them riding for the Orica-AIS team.
The race finishes in Santuario Madonna del Ghisallo on Sunday.
Dutch rider Marianne Vos is the leader, 45 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.