Niamh Fisher-Black timed a late-race move to perfection to win the third stage of the Giro d’Italia Women. Fisher-Black’s SD Worx-Protime teammate Lotte Kopecky climbed spectacularly to finish second on the stage, six seconds later. The world champion outsprinted Juliette Labous, who finished third, and Elisa Longo Borhgini.
Longo Borghini held onto her overall lead after the stage. The Italian sits 13 seconds ahead of Kopecky going into the fourth stage. Labous, who finished second overall in the 2023 edition of the Giro, finished the third stage third overall, 25 seconds behind the Lidl-Trek rider.
Stage 3 Top 10
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How it happened
- There were a few attacks in the early stages of the race but it wasn’t until Sarah Roy attacked with 51 km to go that anything got any distance. The Cofidis rider was joined by Elena Pirrone of Roland 15 km later, and the two teamed up until the final 15 km when Roy once again set off alone.
- Roy was brought back by a fast-moving peloton with 11.5 km to go, just as the race started to take on the final climb to the finish.
- Under the pressure of Canyon-SRAM, the peloton got smaller and smaller on the early slopes of the climb.
- As the kilometres ticked by damage was done with riders popping off the back of the group one after another. Once Mavi García hit the front even more riders found it hard to hold on, but the former Spanish champion wasn’t done. She attacked in the final 2 km and was followed by Fisher-Black of SD Worx-Protime.
- Inside the final kilometre, Fisher-Black left García behind and rode to the line alone, winning the stage by six seconds over her teammate Kopecky with Labous and Longo Borghini finishing with the world champion.
Brief analysis
- A number of riders lost time after the climb, albeit not boatloads of time. Grace Brown, who started the stage second overall, was perhaps the biggest drop of the day. The Australian ITT champion finished 3:48 behind the race winner.
- Canyon-SRAM did a lot of work on the climb and their two GC hopefuls Antonia Neidermaier, who held onto her Youth Classification lead, and Neve Bradbury finished ninth and seventh respectively. Neidermaier is the higher placed of the two on GC. The German rider sits fourth overall, 59 seconds down, ahead of the fourth stage.
- Her performance moved Fisher-Black up to fifth overall, one minute behind Longo Borghini.
- Kopecky moved into the lead of the Points Classification and Fisher-Black took over the lead of the Mountains Classification.
GC Top 10
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Quote of the Day
Fisher-Black is the first rider from New Zealand to win a stage at the Giro. She has long been a favourite, a rider to watch, but timing hasn’t always been on her side.
Well, I don’t think anyone expects to win, but for sure I had a good feeling about today. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, but something about this stage spoke to me.
Fisher-Black on winning the stage
What’s next?
Stage 4: Imola to Urbino (134 km)
Date: Wednesday, July 10
Stage type: Hilly
Summary: Three challenging climbs to end the stage.
Any sprinters hoping to have their day in the Italian sun will have to keep waiting; yet again the fourth stage will not be for them. It’s another pan-flat start, with the interesting stuff not taking off until 51 km to go.
There are three categorized climbs, the final of which ends the stage. The first is a cat 2, and the final two are cat 3s, but after a real GC stage on Tuesday, this is a great possible stage for a breakaway.
The first Cat 2 is broken up into segments. There is a 1.2 km-long opening section of 7% (max 9%) followed by a 1.2 km-long section that averages 8% but includes a staggering bit of 19%. It finishes off with a chunk of 1 km with an average of 7% and a max of 12%. Each section is broken apart, like a stairstep-type situation. But seriously .. .ouch.
After the summit, the road continues to roll along for 8 km before descending to the next climb. This one is two segments with a descent between them. The first is 2.7 km long and averages 7.8% with a max of 11.4%. After a short descent, there’s another climb of 3 km, averaging 6% but maxing out at 13.8%. In total, including the 1.4 km descent, the climb is over 8 km. Not bad.
The final ascent will lead to the finish in Urbino. It starts with 13.4 km to go and rises gradually for the next 11 km. This final one is really gradual, only 2.9% average with some sections of 8%. The road dips slightly with 2 km to go and then pitches again, only a bit, before the line.
Originally published in the stage-by-stage preview, found here.
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