Chiara Consonni pipped world champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) for victory in the bunch sprint for stage two of the Giro d'Italia Women in Volta Mantovana.
It completed the hat-trick for overall stage wins in the race for the UAE Team ADQ rider, who has also won a stage in the past two editions.
"I have no words really today," the 25-year-old said afterwards. "The team were super. We let the breakaway go for six minutes which was a little bit careless, but I think they did a really good job.
"The final was hard," she added. "But I was super focused on my sprint because I know we don't have a lot of opportunities, but I played as well as possible I think."
The 110km stage began at Sirmione on the shores of Lake Garda in the north of the country, finishing with two laps of a 22km finishing circuit that included a cat-four climb each time.
The breakaway looked as though it might win the day at one point, with the bunch forced to throw all resources into the chase on the final circuit, and lone Brazilian rider Ana Vitória Magalhāes (Bepink-Bongioanni) still retaining a 2:30 lead with 12km to go. She was, however, caught inside the final three kilometres.
Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) remains in the leader's jersey after her time trial win yesterday, and the top of the GC largely unchanged. Fourth-placed Kopecky does, however, move six seconds closer to Longo Borghini thanks to her second-place bonus on the stage.
How it happened
The early breakaway of Magalhāes and Alessia Missiaggia (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) went clear after eight kilometres raced, with the gap rising over the next hour or so to seven minutes – at which point Magalhāes became the virtual leader on GC.
Missiaggia stayed in the pairing long enough to win the intermediate sprint at Medole after 67km, but 10km later when they hit the cat-four ascent at Cavriana for the first time, Missiaggia was dropped with a rueful shake of the head.
The Brazilian rider held on to a respectable gap well into the final 15km, but the second time up the climb, with 10km to go, the bunch really turned the screw, and kept doing so until Magalhāes was in sight.
A bunch sprint on a wide road in Volta Mantovana saw a strong Kopecky burst through on the left, only for Consonni to light up moments later and pip her to the line by half a wheel.
Results
Giro d'Italia Women, Stage 2: Sirmione > Volta Montavano, 110km
1. Chiara Consonni (Ita) UAE Team ADQ, in 2:41:58
2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime
3. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Lidl-Trek
4. Arlenis Sierra (Cub) Movistar
5. Mylène De Zoete (Ned) Ceratizit-WNT
6. Kimberley Pienaar (Mus) IG Insurance-Soudal
7. Sylvia Zanardi (Ita) Human Powered Health
8. Letizia Borghesi (Ita) EF Education-Cannondale
9. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek
10. Catherine Schweinberger (Aut) Ceratizit-WNT
General Classification after Stage 2
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 3:02:35
2. Grace Brown (Aus) FDJ-SUEZ, +1s
3. Brodie Chapman (Aus) Lidl-Trek, +13s
4. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime, +19s
5. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich-PostNL, +29s
6. Ruth Edwards (USA) Human Powered Health, +30s
7. Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra) Ceratizit-WNT, +38s
8. Loes Adegeest (Ned) FDJ-SUEZ, at s.t.
9. Katrine Aalerud (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +45s
10. Franziska Koch (Ger) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +47s
