How the race finished
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) powered to the win in a chaotic finish to Stage 3 of the Giro Donne. Marinne Vos (Jumbo Visma) and Chloé Dygert (Canyon//Sram Racing) completed the podium, while Annemiek van Vleuten retained her lead in the general classification.
Full results are available below.
How it happened
Stage 3 of the Giro Donne saw the riders face a flat, 118km course from Formigine to Modena. With stand-out sprinter Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) in the peloton, all eyes were on SD Worx, but a number of other teams were also keen to give their sprinter the opportunity to go for the win.
The first attacks of the day came from the gun. Matilde Vitillo (BePink-Gold) and Iris Monticolo (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) quickly established a gap of 30 seconds, and were joined by Noemi Lucrezia Eremite (GB Junior Team) and Sofia Rodriguez (Bizkaia-Durango). The quartet extended their lead out to a minute, before Rodriguez dropped back to the peloton.
In the chase, SD Worx were surprisingly sitting back, letting other teams take control despite having the fastest rider in the peloton. The break was reeled back in on the only categorised climb of the day. Movistar managed the front of the peloton to make sure no one used the climb to go clear, but Fem van Empel (Jumbo Visma) led over the top, picking up a few points in the QOM classification in the process.
Following the descent there was a bit of a lull in the peloton, before a series of fresh attacks were launched with around 55km remaining to race. Giorgia Vettorello (BePink-Gold) managed to clip off the front solo. Alice Palazzi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) and Asia Zontone (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria) bridged across. The gap to the trio hovered around 30 seconds for a long time, before suddenly stretching out to over a minute.
With SD Worx still sitting back, it was up to other teams to work together to reel the break back in. The trio were caught with around 15km to go, and the lead out trains lined out across the wide roads very early. Fenix-Deceunink, DSM Firmintech and Movistar were all prominent, and with the speeds high, the peloton was very strung out.
Due to the complexity of the finish, with a narrowing of the roads and cobbles, it had previously been decided that the GC timing would be taken at 1km to go, and no bonus seconds would be available on the finish line.
Canyon//Sram Racing looked strong, taking over the front to bring Chloé Dygert up as the road narrowed. In the end, it was a chaotic finish, with the peloton splitting and a small group coming to the line. Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx) piloted Wiebes to the front, took a long pull, and dropped her off quite early, but carrying huge speed. Wiebes wasted no time in launching her sprint, and behind her, all anyone could do was hold their position in the slipstream. Marianne Vos (Jumbo Visma) and Chloé Dygert (Canyon//Sram Racing) followed Wiebes through to complete the podium.
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Photo by Sean Robinson/velofocus.com
