Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx-Protime) won stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia Women, finishing atop a 12.5km climb to Toano. The New Zealander bridged to Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) with 1.7km to go and then left the Spaniard behind on the steep final kilometre to win the stage.
Six seconds later, her teammate Lotte Kopecky finished second ahead of Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) and Maglia Rosa Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) who defended the overall lead. She is now 13 seconds ahead of Kopecky and 25 seconds ahead of Labous.
“Unbelievable. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, but I had a good feeling coming into the Giro. Something about this stage spoke to me,” said Fisher-Black, overjoyed with her victory.
How it unfolded
Most of the 113-kilometre stage was flat, but there was a sting in the tail with the finishing climb to Toano: 12.5km with an average gradient of 4.9%. The first 9.3km of that climbed at an average 5.5% before the next two kilometres were much less steep, even including a short descent before the final kilometre kicked up to almost 7% again, including a 12% ramp.
There was no breakaway until Jade Wiel (FDJ-Suez) got away 50km into the stage. The Frenchwoman took maximum points at the intermediate sprint in Albinea but was caught again around the 50km mark, prompting a counterattack by Sarah Roy (Cofidis).
Roy gradually built a one-minute gap, and Elena Pirrone (Roland) bridged to the Australian sprinter with 35.5km to go. Their advantage increased to 1:33 minutes at the 30-kilometre mark before the GC favourites’ teams started to slowly but surely reel them in.
A crash in the peloton brought down Becky Storrie (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Mijntje Geurts (Visma-Lease a Bike), Alena Amialiusik (UAE Team ADQ), and Greta Marturano (Fenix-Deceuninck). Storrie had to abandon the race because of her injuries.
Closing on the finishing climb, Roy left Pirrone behind, but her advantage was down to 13 seconds at the bottom of the climb, and Roy was caught with 11.5km to go. Fem van Empel (Visma-Lease a Bike) made an acceleration but could not get away from the peloton. Instead, Canyon-SRAM took over at the front of the group to set a hard pace.
When Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) finally swung off with 6.2km to go, she had reduced the peloton to about 25 riders. García now took the lead, reducing the size of the group further and further to only seven riders: García herself, Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM), Labous, Fisher-Black, Kopecky, Longo Borghini and Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek).
Lore De Schepper (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) returned to the group as the climb flattened, and when Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) came back to the group 2.5km from the finish, she went to the front right away.
García went onto her wheel, and when Realini closed the two riders down, the 40-year-old Spaniard kept going and opened up a sizable gap. Fisher-Black attacked from the group behind to jump across, quickly reaching the front where García led the New Zealander onto the final kilometre.
They were 11 seconds ahead at the flamme rouge, and Fisher-Black accelerated on the steep ramp into the village of Toano, quickly left García behind, and soloed to the finish line for her first Giro stage victory.
Labous made a move in the group behind, pulling away with Kopecky and Longo Borghini on her wheel. The World Champion sprinted to second place, pumping her fist as she crossed the line to celebrate her teammate’s victory.
With her second place, Kopecky took the lead in the points classification and will wear the red points jersey on stage 4 while Fisher-Black will be in the blue mountain jersey.
Results
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