Giro d’Italia Women stage 3 LIVE: After a fast start, a breakaway of six leads by more than three minutes as the hills loom

After the Ca’ dell Poggio yesterday, today’s first climb is the Moruzzo, the race’s second 4th category climb. It comes in 30km, the average gradient is 6.4%, but it’s only one kilometre long.
The breakaway’s lead is steady at 3.10.

So far today’s stage has been pan flat, but now the riders are on a false flat, dragging gently towards the mountains beyond the finish.
The breakawy’s lead remains static around the 3.05 mark.

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Elena Cecchini is one of the strongest and smartest riders in the peloton, and not only is the SD Worx-Protime rider is retiring at the end of the season, today’s stage goes through her home roads.

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Tonetti takes maximum points and bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint.
Meanwhile, behind the six rider breakaway, Hashimi and Zsankó sat up and have been caught by the peloton, who remain 3.05 behind the leaders.

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After allowing the breakaway a lead of more than six minutes during yesterday’s stage, it’s unlikely they’ll let them have so much today. Not only are there more riders up the road, two of them represent WorldTour teams, so possess more horsepower.

There’s not much change now the race is established.
Tonetti, Jackson, Deotto, Veenhoven, Pavesi and Guarischi have a lead of one minute over Hashimi and Zsankó, whle the peloton are 3.05 behind the leaders.

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We’re approaching the day’s intermediate sprint, at Villa Manin di Passariano, with 105.2km to go. There are 12, 8, 6, 3, 1 points available there, as well as 6, 4 and 2 bonus seconds.

The race has settled a little, with Tonetti, Jackson, Deotto, Veenhoven, Pavesi and Guarischi leading the peloton by 2.45.
In the gap Hashimi and Zsankó are stuck in no-wo,en’s land, one minute down.
Behind, the Lidl-Trek team of overall leader Elisa Balsamo lead the peloton.

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The weather is looking less than appealing as the riders head north.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Tonetti, Jackson, Deotto, Veenhoven, Pavesi and Guarischi lead the peloton by 2.40, while Hashimi and Zsankó are back together but 55 seconds behind the leaders.

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Tonetti, Jackson, Deotto, Veenhoven, Pavesi and Guarischi now have 2.40 on the peloton, while Hashimi has dropped Zsankó.

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Tonetti, Jackson, Deotto, Veenhoven, Pavesi and Guarischi now lead by one minute, though there are two more riders chasing.

Fariba Hashimi (Vini Fantini-BePink) and Petra Zsankó (Aromitalia Vaiano) are in pursuit.

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And those five have been joined by Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime), so a group of 6 are away.
Other teams may not like the fact Guarischi is in there, the presence of someone from a team with a GC contender might not be a good thing for them.

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Cristina Tonetti (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Alison Jackson (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93), Eleonora Deotto (Mendelspeck E-Work), Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Marta Pavesi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) are up the road with a lead of 25 seconds.

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Still no news on the escapees.

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Five riders have managed to claw their way clear, but their lead is negligible at the moment.

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It’s a busy start with plenty of attacks springing off the front.

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Plenty of people came out to the start in Bibione today to see the race leader, Elisa Balsamo and her Lidl-Trek team mates.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The flag has dropped and we’re off and racing.

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The start is on the coast again before we head north, as we did yesterday, this time to the edge of the Julian Prealps. We’ve got a 4th category climb before we pass through the finish with 43km in Buja, but the main climb of the day, Montenars, tops out with 21.3km to go, after which it’s downhill much of the way to the line.

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We’re off and rolling, this time for almost 9km of neutral before we get going. It’s relatively cool at the start, around 24º and it’s cooler at the finish with a 30% chance of rain later, though the wind is nothing to speak of.

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With just a few minutes until the neutralised start, sign on is well under way. Today could be a good one for World Champion, Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly).

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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It’s been a tough week for SD Worx-Protime after losing sprinter, Lorena Wiebes on stage one.

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For today’s stage we’ve moved further east for, another 156km starting on the coast at Bibione and heading north to Buja for a lumpy finish. We roll out at 13:30CET.

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