Barbara Guarischi crossed the line first, ahead of Lorena Wiebes in yet another comprehensive victory for the Dutch team. After a 1-2-3 podium lockout yesterday, today was another strong finish from SD Worx. A break from Sandra Alonso and Margot Vanpachtenbeke was caught late on, only a few hundred metres from the line. They still managed to finish 3rd and 5th as the peloton barely managed to catch them. Mischa Bredewold remains the GC leader for another day.
A nearly 95km long stage around Schmölln saw Stage 3’s action, which contained less climbing than yesterday’s route. It looked nailed on for a sprint at the end of the day. However, the peloton had other plans and the early riding saw attack after attack launched that unfortunately wouldn’t stick due to too many interests. There were crashes in the middle of the stage, with Romy Kasper going down, possibly on her head and a nasty crash involving Antonia Niedermaier. She crashed into a grassy ditch, which she slid down and received a hit from a loose bicycle along the way. This was her first race back after knee surgery in February and hopefully, this crash won’t see her out for a long time.
Eventually, Femke Gerritse went clear but it didn’t last too long before the peloton reclaimed her. Sandra Alonso was the next to try and she managed to get a lead that approached one minute on her own. As the gap came down. Parkhotel Valkenburg’s Margot Vanpachtenbeke jumped the gap and bridged across. The peloton left them to dangle off the front and their gap held around 20 seconds and once that held over the final ascent, they began to have a shot. The downhill run to the finish meant the lead pair didn’t ship time quickly and maybe the tight twists and turns at the end would allow them to stay clear.
With just 2 corners to go, contact was made and Barbara Guarischi sensed her chance and accelerated through the gap whilst Alonso looked behind. Entering the final corner, Lorena Wiebes took the ideal line and there was nothing Sandra Alonso could do to respond. Given her solo break efforts, the fact she held off Ruby Roseman-Gannon in the sprint for 3rd was a great effort still.
2023 Thüringen Ladies Tour Stage 3 result
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Main photo credit: Arne Mill
