Women's Tour of California: Vos wins stage 3 in Santa Rosa

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Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv) chased down a dangerous breakaway and then outsprinted Coryn Rivera (UnitedHealthcare) to win the penultimate stage of the Amgen Women's Tour of California. Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) defended her general classification lead with an aggressive ride that saw her score several bonus seconds and finish fourth in the field sprint.

"It's incredible," Vos said of her victory. "It's a big race. It's a WorldTour race, and actually it's my first WorldTour win of the season. To take it here in California is pretty special."

Cool temperatures and overcast skies greeted the women's peloton as the race departed Santa Rosa Saturday morning. Several early attacks in the outskirts of town were quickly nullified, and racing began in earnest once the peloton hit the first Lexus Queen of the Mountain climb on Harrison Grade Road. Mara Abbott (Wiggle High5) took the first QOM points, followed by Guarnier and teammate Evelyn Stevens.

Boels Dolmans took control after the first climb and drove the field as the race made its way toward the Pacific Ocean. The Dutch squad used the rolling, twisty roads to split the peloton into a smaller, more manageable field of 40 to 50 riders.

"I like to race more aggressively than defending," said Boels Dolmans' team director Danny Stam. "We actually tried to make it hard and it worked out really good."

Boels Dolmans' pace made it hard for any breaks to gain much time as the field approached the intermediate sprint in Carmet Beach. Gretchen Stumhofer (Colavita-Bianchi) made the most threatening break of the day, gaining 30 seconds on a series of rollers 45km into the race. Unwilling to let anything go up the road, Boels Dolmans chased down Stumhofer and any subsequent moves heading into Carmet Beach. Guarnier won the intermediate sprint and and a three-second bonus, followed by Jasmin Glaesser (Rally Cycling) and Danielle King (Wiggle High5.)

Immediately after crossing the green kite the peloton started climbing the final QOM of the day on Coleman Road. Abbott attacked, shattering the field and drawing out a select group of riders, including Guarnier, Stevens, Alena Amialiusik (Canyon-SRAM), Katie Hall (UnitedHealthcare) and Kristin Armstrong (Twenty16-Ridebiker.) Abbott gained up to 30 seconds but was chased down by the yellow jersey group led by Guarnier and Stevens. The break was eventually joined by Emma Johansson (Wiggle High5) and Eri Yonamine (Hagens-Berman Supermint), who helped drive the gap up to 1:30 as they descended back toward Santa Rosa.

The move looked promising, with several of the top GC leaders represented, but was pulled back with about 20 km left to race.

"I'm a little bit surprised it came back because it was a pretty good GC breakaway, but it just didn't work well together," Guarnier said.

Vos was feeling the effects of the week's racing and ran into difficulty on Coleman Road, losing contact with the leaders. After cresting Coleman, Vos and teammate Shara Gillow decided to take up the chase and see if they could close the gap to Guarnier's group. Vos and Gillow led a group of 30 riders aided by efforts from Tayler Wiles (USA Cycling.) Once the gap came under a minute, Vos knew the chase had a shot at bringing the break back but was unsure if she would have anything left for the finale.

"This final sprint, especially with the headwind, would suit me but still you don't know how your legs are after such a hard stage," Vos said. "It was a fast, fast road in and all the American teams definitely wanted to go for the sprint as well with some fast riders."

Ruth Winder (USA Cycling) and Chloe Dygert (Twenty16-Ridebiker) both had a go in the final closing circuits, but with several big engines, including UnitedHealthcare's Linda Villumsen and Katie Hall, driving the pace at the front, the race was destined for a field sprint. Coryn Rivera (UnitedHealthcare) made the first move but was passed by Vos in the last 50 meters.

"When I felt like the time was right I started my sprint and had a bit of a jump," Rivera said. "I had a gap on everyone and then Vos did the same to me. Maybe I went a little early but I did my own sprint."

Vos won the field sprint, followed by Coryn Rivera and Emma Johannson. Megan Guarnier sprinted to fourth and now leads Kristin Armstrong in the the GC by 15 seconds. Guarnier's team will be looking to keep her safe and defend her yellow jersey in Sunday's Sacramento Circuit Race.

"Tomorrow is just to keep it safe and bring it home," Stam said. "It should be a great victory again."

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