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Virtual Tour of the Gila: Sarah Gigante wins stage 3

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TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank rider wins overall ranking

2019 road race champion Sarah Gigante (Team Tibco-SVB) took 18th place, but with it the silver medal in the under-23 competition
(Image credit: Con Chronis / Zac Williams)

Sarah Gigante (TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank) won the third and final stage, and the overall ranking, of the Virtual Tour of the Gila on Sunday. She finished on the final climb solo ahead of teammate Lauren Stephens, with Andrea Ramírez Fregoso (Agolico BMC) in third.

The final race was just over 70km and one for the climbers and with roughly 20km to go there were only 15 riders left in the front group. Emily Newsome (Tibco-SVB) picked up the intermediate sprint just before the field hit the final climb of the race.

Stephens started the day in the overall read leader's jersey, and sat comfortably in the small pack as they started climbing. Attacks started inside of 10km to go. 

Gigante jumped on the climb with 6km to go and held a 25-second gap. A chase group of three included her teammates Kristen Faulkner, Stephens, Krista Doebel-Hickok (Rally), Andrea Ramírez Fregoso (Agolico BMC) and Kathryn Curi (Amy D Foundation).

Gigante continued on solo in the closing kilometres as the group behind dwindled to just Ramirez and Stephens, and she finished both the stage victory and the overall title.

Brief Results
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Sarah Gigante (TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank) 1:55:05
2Lauren Stephens (TIBCO-Silicon Valley BankB) 0:00:08
3Andrea Ramírez Fregoso (Agolico BMC) 0:00:28

General classification after stage 3
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Sarah Gigante (Tibco-SVB) 4:05:45
2Lauren Stephens (Tibco-SVB)0:00:06
3Kristen Faulkner (Tibco-SVB)0:00:58

Virtual Tour of the Gila stage 3 - video replay

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