OFFICIAL Stage 3 Results

[Laurens De Jong]

Hello, Giro d’Italia Women Gamers!

 

STAGE Grade: A-

 

I rate today’s stage an A-. The FDJ United – SUEZ attack took me, and many others, completely by surprise. I have to give some stars to the route because it was that climb that made this happen. There were some minor general classification implications, and tactical choices made and to be made. Overall, a surprisingly good race on a Monday!

 

Route: 3/5         GC: 2/5             Tactics: 3/5       Sprint: 4/5         Surprises: 5/5

 

 

FDJ United – SUEZ did something I completely did not see coming. They attacked on the Montenars climb. A category 3 climb, the only reason to attack there is to drop the sprinters. Why did FDJ care about that?

 

Category 3 because it’s short: 1.9 km at 9.1%, but about 1,200 meters of that is above 12%. At a normal peloton pace, most of the sprinters can get over that or, worse case, reconnect in the descent. But Demi Vollering looked around and decide: on va faire du ménage. Let’s do some cleaning up here. Full gas up the climb, as if the general classification depended on it. Riders dropped everywhere, especially the sprinters. Elisa Balsamo, in her Maglia Rosa, was suffering more than I have ever seen her suffer. I think she lost nearly a minute on that climb.

 

Everyone got dropped. There was a lead group of maybe seven riders and the rest was somewhere on that hill. A huge grupetto with nearly half the peloton in it would finish twelve minutes behind. Twelve minutes! On a two-kilometer climb.

 

All because Vollering wanted to do some cleaning!

 

And why? The predictable happened: a lot of riders reconnected on the descent. And, impressively, one of them was Balsamo. The power of the Maglia Rosa, I don’t think she would have dug that deep in her normal Lidl-Trek kit.

 

So why did Vollering do this? I recollected a race in Iowa once. A rider in the Pro race was in the attack several times. No chance to win the race, no tactical advantage. I asked why he did that and he told me: “I just like to hurt people.” Does Vollering just want to hurt people? Maybe.

 

The other explanation would be tomorrow’s time trial stage. If Vollering hurt the competition just enough, that will give her an advantage on Tuesday. That does seem far-fetched, but this whole development was far-fetched.

 

But okay, Balsamo survived so we all knew the winner of the stage long before it happened. There’s not much to describe about the sprint. Balsamo chose Elisa Longo Borghini’s wheel, one of the few riders with a lead-out teammate. Lily Williams made a surprising solo attack but it was no match for Balsamo. Like I said yesterday, on a short uphill, a sprinter’s power makes them a formidable climber. That’s what Balsamo did on that final 6% finish and nobody was even close.

 

Behind her, Millie Couzens was sprinting for her own success. Charlotte Kool wasn’t there. Couzens was boxed in by Célia Gery, saw a gap opening up and went for it. It turned out that Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig was in her way. She solved that with a shoulder barge that cost Ludwig a better classification.

 

Ludwig is a hothead, loved by the public, not well liked by the peloton. I thought she would come across the finish line seething, but she just rolled by. As if to say, “yeah, a shoulder barge, it’s fine.” A good example that I can describe what I see, but not what the riders see.

 

The judges saw what I saw and relegated Couzens and she was given a yellow card.

 

Going back in time a little: the breakaway today consisted of Eleanora Deotto (Team Mendelspeck E-work), Marta Pavesi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo), Cristina Tonetti (Laboral Kutxa – Fundacíon Euskadi), but also: Nienke Veenhoven (Team Visma – Lease-a-Bike), Barbara Guarischi (Team SD Worx – Protime), and Alison Jackson (St Michel – Preference Home – Auber93).

 

I name those riders because I mentioned Jackson yesterday — and now here she is, in the breakaway. But Veenhoven? Guarischi? Why? I have no answer. When the breakaway was caught, Guarischi immediately had to work to keep the peloton together. And Veenhoven was dropped and finished in that grupetto.

 

Also in that grupetto but I was glad to see her there: Talitha de Jong. She had crashed hard in an innocent-looking lefthander that had nonetheless also nearly taken down Jackson in the breakaway. I thought she would have to abandon with a broken collarbone but at least she made it to the finish today.

 

A few kilometers before Vollering’s move that shattered the peloton, I saw that FDJ were lining things up. In this order: Vittoria Guazzini, Eva van Agt, Vollering. That tells us what I wondered yesterday: Guazzini has to do most of the work to keep Vollering safe, van Agt is second.

 

When Vollering attacked, van Agt pulled the plug and she finished in that grupetto: 120^th.

 

Watch the final kilometers HERE.

Watch the TNT Sports highlights HERE.

Read the TNT Sports report HERE.

 

Monica Trinca Colonel finished 12^th today in the not-quite-sprint stage, and that caused some daylight between Team Ansel and Team Charles. Their sprinters all got the same points, but Trinca Colonel tipped the scale in Team Ansel’s favor. Most points in everything and they take over first place.

 

Team Amalia is hurting themselves by not having Elisa Balsamo, but they had the most riders in the Top-25 (nine). They lose 50 points a day because of Balsamo, but are still in it thanks to Margau Vigié, Lauren Dickson, and even Mireia Benito. Two of those riders have names I am not familiar with, and they are earning points. This is why we play these games.

 

Stage 4 on Tuesday is a climb time trial. From the town of Belluno they climb up to Nevegal, a category 1 climb. One of the hardest climbs in this entire Giro d’Italia Women and it’s a time trial. Whose idea was that? But I like it, perhaps one day we’ll see a time trial up the Stelvio.

 

But okay. Only Demi Vollering can win this stage. If she doesn’t, then why did she attack today? On paper, Anna van der Breggen might be a threat. She was terrific in the Vuelta a España Femenina. And many of us picked Marlen Reusser because, even uphill, it’s still a time trial and she is not in the habit of losing time trials.

 

Yet. There are only nine stages in the 2026 Giro d’Italia Women. I think Vollering just wants to put that Maglia Rosa on and leave it on her shoulders for the rest of the week. And if that is what she wants, then that is what will happen. Everyone else is racing for second.

 

Standings after stage 3:

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Ansel*	552	2	1
2	Team Charles*	539	1	-1
3	Team Amalia*	439	3	0

 

Standings after stage 3 (including adults):

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Ansel*	552	2	1
2	Team Kent	543	4	2
3	Team Charles*	539	1	-2
4	Team Laurens	538	3	-1
5	Team Charlotte	512	5	0
6	Team Kate	466	10	4
7	Team Ellie	459	7	0
8	Team Kari	453	9	1
9	Team Amalia*	439	6	-3
10	Team Corsa	399	11	1
11	Team Julie	398	8	-3

 

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 3:

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	PINK JERSEY	PURPLE JERSEY	BLUE JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	COMBATIVE	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Amalia*	107	27	8	10	0	0	45	152	287	439
Team Ansel*	123	29	13	10	0	0	52	175	377	552
Team Charles*	109	29	13	10	0	0	52	161	378	539

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 3 (including adults):

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	PINK JERSEY	PURPLE JERSEY	BLUE JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	COMBATIVE	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Amalia*	107	27	8	10	0	0	45	152	287	439
Team Ansel*	123	29	13	10	0	0	52	175	377	552
Team Charles*	109	29	13	10	0	0	52	161	378	539
Team Charlotte	140	29	9	10	2	0	50	190	322	512
Team Corsa	146	29	6	13	0	0	48	194	205	399
Team Ellie	140	38	8	6	2	0	54	194	265	459
Team Julie	106	18	8	10	0	0	36	142	256	398
Team Kari	156	38	8	13	0	0	59	215	238	453
Team Kate	167	41	8	13	0	0	62	229	237	466
Team Kent	141	29	13	10	0	0	52	193	350	543
Team Laurens	125	29	13	10	0	0	52	177	361	538

 

Pedalare, donne! Pedalare!

 

-Laurens.