Emma Jeffers (Liv AlUla Jayco Women's Continental Team) has taken the third UCI-ranked win of her career in Europe, also taking the race lead at Giro Toscana in Italy.
Her victory in the 116km stage from Serravalle Pistoiese to Quarrata came 24 hours after her team won the opening stage of the race, a 5.1km TTT in Viareggio. And that meant Jeffers took the overall lead in the race, by a slender margin of one second.
The stage today came down to a sprint from a large bunch, with Jeffers too strong for the opposition and getting the better of Belgian Anna Vanderaerden (Fenix-Deceuninck Development Team) and Swiss rider Jasmin Liechti (NEXETIS).
Jeffers now leads the UCI 2.2-ranked race by one second from her team mates Noä Jansen and Matilde Vitillo, with two stages to come. Today's win was the third of her road career in UCI races in Europe, after she claimed two stages at last year's Gracia (2.2) race in the Czech Republic.
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Tomorrow's action will see the riders race some 166.8km, starting and finishing in Segromigno in Piano. Though the route is mostly flat, the cat 1 climb at Valgiano - 5.9km at 4.2 per cent - will sting some of the riders.
The climb is crested just 7km from the finish, with that final section of the stage mostly downhill, meaning any dropped on the ascent is unlikely to get back on during the downhill. Any of the teams with designs on the general classification are likely to be to the fore.
The race concludes on Sunday, with the 146km stage 4 from Lucca to Montecatini Terme, which is by far the hardest of the race. There are no fewer than eight categorised climbs and, though the top of the final climb is 11km from the finish, the field is likely to split significantly.
More to come.
