Giro Rosa: D'hoore wins stage 3 in Corbetta

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Jolien D'hoore (Mitchelton-Scott) won the third stage at the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile on Sunday in Corbetta. The Belgian sprinted to victory ahead of the previous day's winner Kirsten Wild (Wiggle High5) and Alexis Ryan (Canyon-SRAM).

"It was a flat stage so we decided within the team that today was for me and I was really happy it was a sprint in the end," D'hoore said in a team press release.

Sunweb's Leah Kirchmann moved into the overall lead after picking up bonus seconds on the day. The Canadian is the third Sunweb rider to lead the race after their sage 1 team time trial victory where Ellen Van Dijk took the first leader's jersey. Lucinda Brand led the race after stage 2, and now the pink jersey moves onto Kirchmann's shoulders, for the second time in her career.

Following the stage, Kirchmann made a comment via Twitter that read "It's an honour to wear the maglia rosa heading into tomorrow's stage! First Ellen Van Dijk, then Lucinda Brand, now myself. We are very good at sharing on Team Sunweb."

Stage 3 offered the peloton a 132km race that started and finished in Corbetta, west of Milan. It was a pan-flat route and was expected to be another test for the pure sprinters. There were eight flat laps of 16 kilometres around the city with a technical final 3km run-in to the finish.

After three and a half laps of racing, three riders cleared the field and opened up a steady advantage. Those riders were Sara Penton (Team Virtu Cycling), Chiara Perini (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) and Carmela Cipriani (Conceria Zabri-Fanini).

The teams kept the trio within a manageable two minutes. As the breakaway entered the final lap, their lead drop to under one minute, and they were caught inside 3km to go.

"In the Giro-Rosa it is always nervous in the bunch, today everybody was expecting a bunch sprint so it was fairly easy, but on the last lap it was pretty hectic again," D'hoore described the final sprint.

"Everybody knew how the finish was but it was still crazy, everybody was taking many risks. There were a lot of crashes but I was able to stay safe and I just found my way through the bunch, I guess that is thanks to being a track rider.

"I came into the last corner in around fifth position, so I actually had to go from that position otherwise it was too late. It was a really long sprint but I managed to hold it until the finish line.

"It was great today that we could also keep our GC riders safe and up there and then of course I am happy to win and it is good for the morale for the team. I just had to believe in myself and just had to say myself that I could do it and that is what I did. Sometimes it is that simple, it is all in the head. Now we are all in for the GC again and hopefully we can make it until the end."

The peloton will once again face a sprint-friendly route during Monday's fourth stage. It will be a shorter race at 109km and located in Piacenza. This is two-time former world champion Giorgia Bronzini's hometown so look for her to attempt a victory here.

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