Elisa Balsamo drops, comes back and sprints to hat-trick in Giro d'Italia Women

Elisa Balsamo is currently the undisputed queen of the Giro d'Italia Women. The Italian seemed unable to sprint in the third stage to Buja, but she came back in the finale and then convincingly sped to her third consecutive stage win.

At this Giro d'Italia Women, the first serious climbing is still awaited, but the third stage was definitely not to be underestimated. A bunch sprint was once again possible today, but the finale was not flat this time. The riders faced two climbs on the way to the finish in Buja: the Moruzzo (800 meters at 7%) and especially the Montenars (1.9 km at 9.1%).

Fast Veenhoven does not wait for a sprint
Six riders were certainly not aiming for a sprint and went on the early break. Remarkably, the otherwise fast Nienke Veenhoven was one of the attackers. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider received support from Paris-Roubaix winner Alison Jackson (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93), Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime), Cristina Tonetti (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Marta Pavesi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo), and Eleonora Deotto (Team Mendelspeck E-Work).

Two riders made a desperate attempt to bridge to these six escapees, but Petra Zsankó (Aromitalia Vaiano) and Fariba Hashimi (Vini Fantini-BePink) were not strong enough to close the gap and were classic chased down by the peloton. The breakaway then had a maximum lead of about three minutes, but this did not seem enough to hold until the finish.

Breakaway splinters on the Moruzzo climb
At the foot of the first climb of the day - the less than one-kilometer-long Moruzzo - the lead had already shrunk to one minute. This prompted Jackson to raise the pace and drop the 'weaker' riders. Veenhoven, Guarischi, and Deotto had to let go, leaving Jackson, Pavesi, and Tonetti at the front of the race. The Canadian was the first over the top, earning three points for the mountains classification.

After this climbing interlude, the flatter roads were tackled again heading toward the first passage at the finish. The peloton took this as a signal to step up the pace, which caused the advantage of the three remaining leaders to vanish like snow in the sun. Before the Montenars climb was even approached, the regrouping was complete, and the stage was set for possible action on the steep climb.

FDJ takes the race in hand, Vollering pushes on
And we got action on the slopes of the climb, as FDJ United-SUEZ saw it as a prime opportunity to thin out the peloton. Led by the French top talent Célia Géry, only about ten riders remained. For the fast women - including the pink jersey wearer Balsamo - the pace in this phase was too high. They also seemed unable to come back, as upfront it was all hands on deck.

The impressive effort from Géry sparked Vollering's move. The European champion made her first significant attack, but the Dutchwoman did not manage to get away. However, her attack triggered an elite group of barely nine riders, including Anna van der Breggen, Marlen Reusser, Elisa Longo Borghini, Femke de Vries, Isabella Holmgren, Finn Fisher-Black, Lore De Schepper, and Monics Trinca Colonel.

Second group bridges back
These heavy hitters crested the Montenars climb with a nice gap, but they still had about twenty kilometers to the finish. There was not much willingness to work smoothly together. They mainly looked at each other, which clearly annoyed Vollering, who accelerated once more on a rising section in Gemona del Friuli. This half-hearted attack was quickly quenched.

Due to poor cooperation among the favorites, the dropped riders got a chance to level the situation. A second group containing leader Balsamo managed to bridge back, so it seemed the race would still end in a sprint with about sixty riders. Emphasis on seemed, because several riders saw their opportunity to slip away in the finale.

Balsamo speeds to hat-trick of stage wins
Pfeiffer Georgi and Silvia Persico were unable to create a serious gap, but after an attack from Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset, all alarm bells went off in the drastically reduced peloton. The 27-year-old Norwegian rode about ten seconds clear and seemed unstoppable, but the uphill finish in Buja cost her the lead. The spent Haugset was caught in the final few hundred meters.

Lily Williams appeared to briefly benefit from the chaos. The American played the surprise card and launched her move from far out, but the alert Balsamo saw it happen and then impressively sped to her third consecutive win in the pink jersey. Williams crossed the line second, ahead of Femke Gerritse, who, in the absence of her teammate Wiebes, secured a podium spot.

Watch Elisa Balsamo's finish here:

🚴🇮🇹 | Elisa Balsamo wint haar derde etappe in deze #GirodItaliaWomen. Ze blijft in de sprint in Puglia de Amerikaanse Lily Williams voor.

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