Giro Rosa: Marianne Vos wins stage 3

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Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) has won her 23rd stage of the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile. One day after her victory in Viù, Vos again emerged as the strongest on the uphill finish in Piedicavallo, passing late attacker Lucy Kennedy (Mitchelton-Scott) within five metres of the line. Kennedy finished second, with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Bigla) in third.

Overall leader Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) finished further down but defends her maglia rosa for another day. She is now 20 seconds ahead of Ludwig and 25 seconds ahead of Vos

"When I launched the sprint, I actually thought it was going to be too late," said Vos after the stage. "It was still such a big gap to Lucy. But then we entered those final steep 100 metres on the cobbles, and when Lucy put her arm in the air, I just had more speed and came around. It was crazy, and heartbreaking for Lucy.”

How it happened

At a length of 104.1km, the third stage of the Giro Rosa consisted of a long, mostly flat loop south of the starting town of Sagliano Micca following by an 11-kilometre ascent to the finish. Averaging 4.1 per cent, the climb had steep ramps interspersed with flat and even downhill sections. The final kilometre included short stretches of up to 14 per cent, with the final 150 metres on a narrow, cobbled road through the village of Piedicavallo.

Romy Kasper (Alé Cipollini), Lisa Morzenti (Eurotarget-Bianchi-Vitasana), and Dalia Muccioli (Valcar Cylance) attacked after 15km of racing. They never established a big gap and were caught again nine kilometres later, the peloton rolling through the outskirts of the Po valley together.

Slovenian champion Eugenia Bujak (BTC City Ljubljana) went on a solo breakaway 50 km from the finish and quickly established a gap of around a minute. Simona Frapporti (BePink) and Charlotte Becker (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) tried to bridge to Bujak but were soon reeled in again.

At the intermediate sprint in Biella with 25km to go, Bujak was 1:32 minutes ahead of the peloton where Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb) and Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) took the last available bonus seconds. The peloton reduced the gap to under 30 seconds before finishing climb.

Tayler Wiles (Trek-Segafredo) attacked and quickly passed Bujak who was absorbed by the peloton. Twelve kilometres from the finish, Wiles held an advantage of 51 seconds while the Canyon-SRAM team of maglia rosa Niewiadoma controlled the peloton behind.

Wiles held strong at first, losing only a few seconds on the lower slopes of the climb. But as Canyon-SRAM increased the pace behind, Wiles' advantage shrunk to 20 seconds at the five-kilometre mark. Spratt and Karol-Ann Canuel (Boels Dolmans) put in turns at the front of the peloton, then Bigla took over for their leader Ludwig.

Kennedy attacked with 2.5km to go and passed a faltering Wiles just within the two-kilometre mark, opening a substantial gap herself while Wiles was caught. Vos launched her sprint with 200 metres to go, and as Kennedy raised one arm to celebrate what would have been the biggest victory of her career, Vos came past the Australian on the very last metres to take her second consecutive Giro Rosa stage victory.

Niewiadoma finished the stage in 12th place and defended the maglia rosa, she is now 20 seconds ahead of Ludwig and 25 seconds ahead of Vos.

Vos extended her lead in the points classification and now also leads the mountain classification, with Sofie De Vuyst (Parkhotel Valkenburg) wearing the green mountain jersey in her place on stage 4. Juliette Labous (Team Sunweb) continues to wear the white jersey for the best U23 rider, Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) stays in the blue jersey for the best Italian.

The race continues on Monday with a stage over 101.1km from Lissone to Carate Brianza.

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