Lisa Klein (Canyon-Sram) took both the win and race lead in Nijverdal on stage 3 of the Boels Ladies Tour. The German beat Amy Pieters (Boels-Dolmans), Elizabeth Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) and Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) in a four-up sprint to the line.
The quartet broke away over a climb in the latter stages of the race, and held a small gap over the peloton as they closed in on the finish. It was enough though, with the four women able to contest the sprint without worrying about those behind catching them.
In the end, it was a close-run thing, with Klein edging out Pieters on the line just ahead of Deignan. The victory is the 23-year-old's seventh of the season, and puts her in pole position to add an eighth should she manage to hang on to her slim overall lead for two more stages.
"I made it over in the last small climb and when we were in four coming into the last 10km, then I was working hard to make that stay away," Klein said in a team statement after the race. "In the final kilometre I tried to get a gap in a corner, but the other three were able to come back.
"I then started the sprint first, and although Amy and Lizzie came past me, I was able to come back again. It was great to get this reward for the team!
"It was a massive team effort and everyone one of us worked so hard! The team did a fantastic job and I am so pleased to be able to finish that off. I have to thank them for their work."
Klein leads the race by two seconds ahead of former leader Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg). Stage 4 runs from Arnhem to Nijmegen and features a testing climb in the closing kilometres.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor before being hired full-time. Her favourite races include the Paris-Roubaix, Tour de France Femmes, Tro-Bro Léon, and cycling's fourth Grand Tour, the Volta a Portugal.
