In the end, it was a blistering sprint from Chloe Hosking that gave Alé Cipollini the win they missed the chance of taking when no-one chased Kasia Niewiadoma on stage one. The multinational Italian team manoeuvred their Australian leader into position and Hosking flew to the victory.
It was another long day in the saddle – hotter, but still windy, and marked by crashes. Elisa Longo Borghini came down losing skin on her arms and hips, and then late on Marianne Vos hit the deck with FDJ’s Aude Biannac, leaving the Dutchwoman with her arm in a sling and a doctor very carefully cleaning some deep facial wounds for Biannac.
There’s also a bug going around – some riders have come through it, as Tuslaite is still riding, but others are dropping out including Winanda Spoor who was in great spirits at the start and distraught at the end.
Amy Pieters, yesterday’s winner was on the attack, an the bulk of the race saw a five-strong group away: Gracie Elvin (Orica-Scott), Shara Gillow (FDJ), Martina Ritter (Drops), Cecille Utrup Ludwig (Cervelo-Bigla) and Malgorzata Jasinksa (Cylance), who were caught very late.
Martin Vestby, Wiggle-High 5 directeur sportif, said: “It’s just the long days that add up, and there will be very tired bodies tomorrow.” Then, pointing at the road surface, he said: “This really drags the energy out of you. And you don’t realise how much altitude you have gained until you look later and then you realise why you’re so tired. Sometimes when the road rolls, you can carry some speed into some of the climbs and rolls, but you always need to push, push.” (Today, there was 1699 meters ascent, after 1812 meters and 1660 meters on stages one and two.)
We had one girl in a crash early (Elisa Longo Borghini), but they all got back safe, and we had all the riders together in the front at the end. G (Girogia Bronzini) got interrupted a little in the sprint but we got fourth with her and we have two jerseys so it is a good day.”
Christine Majerus was a bit bemused after another very good finish, coming in fifth: “The finish was on really narrow roads. I don’t understand why? The roads here in the finish are really wide, so why not just have the whole width of the road for the finish instead of going down to one lane at 300m to go?”
How will you handle another tough stage tomorrow?
“It will be another really hard day. We’re not used to the distance, and we’ve had three long days. 150 kilometers is normal for a Classic, but not for three days in a row. Tomorrow will be a rest
Xylon van Eyck fro the Cervelo-Bigla team sang the praises of his squad: “The girls did a really great job again today. Cecille is really disappointed to be caught at five kilometers to go, but I’m saying to her: Why? You’re still only 21 years old, so this is where you’re supposed to be learning.
We have three under-23 girls in the team here and they are riding so well. We lost the sprint jersey to Jolien today, but that’s OK. We’re getting the girls ready for their national championships in a couple of weeks, so that is very important for us.”
There are so many ways to win inside one of the biggest races on the Women’s World Tour, and building the next generation of stars just might be the most important.