Barbara Guarischi continued SD Worx's winning streak after securing the stage 3 victory at the Thüringen Ladies Tour. The Italian won the bunch sprint ahead of teammate Lorena Wiebes, while the day's breakaway rider Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) hung on for third place in Schmölln.
Mischa Bredewold maintained her lead in the overall classification, as SD Worx held the top-three spots, with Wiebes in second at nine seconds back and Lotte Kopecky in third at 15 seconds back.
The Thüringen Ladies Tour continues with stage 4's 135.5km race in Gotha.
How it unfolded
The third stage of the Thüringen Ladies Tour was a shorter 94.6km race in Schmölln, including four large loops, each with a climb over Gößnitz (900m at 5.1%) and a sprint at the finish line on each circuit.
The first lap of the race saw attacks coming out of the peloton from teams Arkea and Parkhotel Valkenburg. It led to an early but short-lived breakaway, including Romy Kasper (AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep) and Lieke Nooijen (Parkhotel Valkenburg) as they were reeled in before the start of the second lap.
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) sprinted for full points and bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint at the start of the second lap, beating Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT) and Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Jayco-AlUla).
Femke Gerritse (Parkhotel Valkenburg) was the next to try to escape the field, but her efforts only lasted a few kilometres, and she was swallowed by an SD Worx and Canyon-SRAM-led peloton.
The peloton intact at the start of the third lap, Kopecky once again sprinted for full points and bonuses ahead of her teammates, overall leader Mischa Bredewold and Lorena Wiebes.
Alice Palazzi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) reached the top of the third ascent of the Gößnitz first and so padded out her lead in the mountains classification with three stages to go.
As the peloton split over the ascent and into the remaining kilometres of the penultimate lap, Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) launched an attack that resulted in a solo breakaway with 36km to go.
A crash in the peloton saw Kasper, Lach, and Hanna Ludwig go down, but reports suggest that all riders were back up and in the race for the last lap.
Alonso held a 15-second lead inside 10km remaining in the stage and was joined by Margot Vanpachtenbeke (Parkhotel Valkenburg) in the final kilometres.
The pair were swept up inside one kilometre from the finish line as the bunch sprinted across the line with Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx) taking the win, Wiebes in second, but Alonso holding on for third.
Results
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