Giro d'Italia Women Stage 3: Balsamo Makes It Two in a Row, Lily Williams 2nd

Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) made it two in a row with an emphatic sprint victory at the Giro d’Italia Women in Monday’s third stage.

American Lily Williams (Human Powered Health) crossed the line second for her best grand tour stage result in her road career.

“Today it was such an hard day but once again my team did an amazing job. Even our GC leaders, Niamh Fisher Black and Isabella Holmgren, helped me when I was in trouble,” Balsamo said. “I did a recon of this stage, so I knew the final kms. My big goal was to keep the maglia rosa, and to win again is simply amazing.”

The sprinters left it late to reel in a late-attacking solo rider, but the Italian rode everyone off of her wheel to win again and pad her lead in the pink jersey.

The 156km lumpy profile from Bibione to Buja for stage 3 featured two short but steep climbs late, and promised to complicate things for a bunch sprint.

An early break pulled clear, with Alison Jackson (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93) leading the charge, but move was duly reeled in coming into the Cat. 3 Montenars (2.5km at 7.1%).

Things got spicy with such hitters as Demi Vollering and Anna van der Breggen lighting some flares, and the front group split, with Balsamo among those getting gapped.

But it was still more than 20km to go, and the front pack regrouped coming toward the final finishing uphill kicker with 5 percent grades in the last 400m.

Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset (Uno-X Mobility) jumped with just over 4km to go to put the bunch on edge.

She held on until 300m to go when Lidl-Trek set up Balsamo, who fended off Williams in the grinding finale. Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime) was third.

Decisive time trial up next

The second win erases any doubts about her grip on the pink jersey after the controversial expulsion of stage 1 winner Lorena Wiebes, who was kicked out of the Giro for having a bike that was 20 grams under the 6.8kg minimum, according to the race jury.

The Giro changes gears Tuesday for stage 4 in the decisive 12.7km climbing time trial from Belluno  to Nevegal.

The first 5.5km are rolling and slightly rising until the course hits the proper climb. From there it’s 7.4km at 8.2 percent.

That should put a climber into pink, and perhaps for good.

Giro d’Italia Women Stage 3 results