Lily Williams launched a powerful sprint to claim second place on Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia Women after the 156 km race from Bibione to Buja.
With the team putting in a huge effort to reel in a late attacker, the American Olympic gold medalist atop her Factor OSTRO VAM then put the hammer down on a final 400-meter, rising 4.6% road, only being passed by Maglia Rosa Elisa Balsamo (Lidl – Trek).
“It feels really good,” Williams beamed after her first WorldTour podium. “The team believed in me, and more than that, I believed in myself, which you hear a lot, but it’s not often that you’re in that position, and that pushed me and motivated me to keep going over that climb.”
The result is the team’s third strong finish in a row at the race, with the collective efforts of WIlliams, Barbara Malcotti, Thalita de Jong, Nina Buijsman, Carlotta Cipressi, Marit Raaijmakers and Maggie Coles-Lyster, once again showing.
“The team really did an amazing job today,” the 31-year-old says. “We’re having a really good Giro, and the energy’s really good, and that makes it really fun.”
Williams thrives in hard finishes, and the rolling nature of the finale meant that she had labelled the stage as a personal target.
“I’m starting to learn how to pace these efforts,” Williams explained. “We did a simulation of it in training, which was really good, and I’ve been working a lot on staying calm, and doing my best effort on these climbs and not worrying about what’s happening in the rest of the race.”
That simulation was evident in the finale.
“We talked about this exact situation in the pre-race meeting,” she says. “Normally, my sprint has to be pretty long anyway. I have to open it up because my acceleration’s not super great. I just said, ‘Let’s go for it and see what happens.’ I was just pretty shocked that nobody came around until Balsamo, honestly.”
The performances are building momentum within Williams and the team, for this race and the tests beyond.
“Every day we’ve had everybody changing roles, and helping or being protected, so I’m also really looking forward to shifting into that mindset later in the race to help our GC leaders,” she says. “The form is really good. Training went well; all preparations were good. We’ll take it day by day and do what we can.”
Elsewhere in the race, de Jong unfortunately crashed but was able to finish the stage, having suffered some abrasions.
Head of Race Magnus Bäckstedt also highlighted the sharp tactical thinking that drove the team’s success.
“Carlotta did a massive job into the bottom, while they climbed positions,” explains Bäckstedt. “Barbara then started climbing and caught back up to Lily, and stayed with her, because she thought maybe I could help her in some way, and Nina was also chasing down attacks. It’s so sharp to think in that way.”
He also noted how the morning’s plan came together on the road.
“Already this morning, we said, you have to be brave, you have to go early, you have to really commit to this,” he says. “We’ve tried so many times already to come from behind and sit and wait. At some point, we have to change this, and commit to it, and believe that we can do it, and they really took that to heart today, and I’m very proud.”
The result means that Williams heads into tomorrow’s 12.7 km uphill time trial from Belluno to Nevegal second on the general classification.
Giro d’Italia Women stage 3 results
1 BALSAMO Elisa – Lidl – Trek 3:43:43
2 WILLIAMS Lily – Human Powered Health ”
3 GERRITSE Femke – Team SD Worx – Protime ”
4 LONGO BORGHINI Elisa – UAE Team ADQ ”
5 PERSICO Silvia – UAE Team ADQ ”
6 GEORGI Pfeiffer – Team Picnic PostNL ”
7 REUSSER Marlen – Movistar Team ”
8 GERY Célia – FDJ United – SUEZ ”
9 LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup – CANYON//SRAM ”
10 MORIER Émilie – St Michel – Preference Home – Auber93 ”
Giro d’Italia Women General Classification after stage 3
1 BALSAMO Elisa – Lidl – Trek 10:59:24
2 WILLIAMS Lily – Human Powered Health 0:24
3 LONGO BORGHINI Elisa – UAE Team ADQ 0:30
4 VIGIÉ Margaux – Team Visma | Lease a Bike ”
5 GERY Célia – FDJ United – SUEZ ”
6 VAN DER BREGGEN Anna – Team SD Worx – Protime ”
7 FISHER-BLACK Niamh – Lidl – Trek ”
8 PERSICO Silvia – UAE Team ADQ ”
9 VOLLERING Demi – FDJ United – SUEZ ”
10 DICKSON Lauren – FDJ United – SUEZ ”
Stage Gallery
Photos: GettySport
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