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How the Giro Donne 2022 GC battle looks after Stage 3

The Giro Donne GC battle wasn’t affected by Stage 2 with no time lost at all by the contenders. Stage 3 however is a different matter after a late confusion about the correct route in the last few kilometres. There’s a chance the times from that stage are still altered but for now, I’m taking them as they are.

We’ve seen a pair of hugely impressive sprint victories since I last looked at the GC on Stage 1. Elisa Balsamo won Stage 2 from Marianne Vos and then Marianne Vos won Stage 3 from Charlotte Kool.

Giro Donne 2022 GC battle

The opening time trial created some gaps on the GC to get things started. The issue for those riders on these stages was always to keep themselves out of trouble and ensure they don’t leak any extra seconds to their rivals. For the riders already behind Annemiek van Vleuten, giving her free extra time really doesn’t help their chances. The splits at the end of Stage 3 created a couple of different levels for those who lost time. The initial split wasn’t too bad and those riders only lost 6 seconds. Not ideal but terrible in the big scheme of things. For those more affected by the route issues, 43 seconds seems to be about the average time lost.

Olivia Baril is the first GC rider to DNF the Giro Donne 2022.

Annemiek van Vleuten
(Photo Credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

Unofficial Giro Donne 2022 GC ranking

RankRiderTeamTime gap
1Kristen FaulknerBikeExchange-JaycoLeader
2Elisa Longo BorghiniTrek-Segafredo+3″
3Annemiek van VleutenMovistar+4″
4Marta CavalliFDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope+13″
5Juliette LabousTeam DSM+16″
6Cecilie Uttrup LudwigFDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope+16″
7Amanda SprattBikeExchange-Jayco+17″
8Soraya PaladinCanyon SRAM+19″
9Mavi GarciaUAE Team ADQ+24″
10Elise ChabbeyCanyon SRAM+24″
11Niamh Fisher-BlackSD Worx+31″
12Evita MuzicFDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope+32″
13Erica MagnaldiUAE Team ADQ+36″
14Krista Doebel-HickokEF Education-TIBCO-SVB+44″
15Paula PatinoMovistar+48″
16Mikayla HarveyCanyon SRAM+1’03”
17Erica MagnaldiUAE Team ADQ+1’13”
18Clara KoppenburgCofidis+1’27”
19Gaia RealiniIsolmant-Premac-Vittoria+1’37”

The biggest changes are mostly for those nearer the bottom anyway, which is unfortunate for them. Realini, Koppenburg, Magnaldi and Harvey were all affected by being sent in the wrong direction. Mavi Garcia only moved back one position after losing 6 seconds in the same incident. Faulkner lost 6 seconds whilst acting as a lead-out for Georgia Baker. That means that collectively, the front moves a bit closer to the American. Longo Borghini and Van Vleuten are both now only a stage podium finish bonus away from that unofficial GC lead.