T&T's ace women's cyclist Teniel Campbell's aspirations of becoming the Usain Bolt continue to grow.
On Sunday, the lanky rider continued her upward spiral on the third stage of the Giro Rosa in Italy, which consisted a large field of riders from around the world. But while Campbell shut to the limelight with an early blitz of the 139.9-kilometre grind, by moving impressively to the front of the main peloton, she could not maintain it and fell to a final stage position of 102nd riding for her Team Valcar Travel Service.
The race was eventually won by Marianne Vos of the Netherlands who conquered all in the punishingly steep climb into Assisi in the end. After the peloton entered the final kilometre together, a group of six riders dropped the rest on the 15 per cent challenging slopes.
In the end, Vos was the strongest, beating Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) to the line and taking her 26th Giro Rosa stage win. Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) did not follow the punchier riders’ moves but paced herself on the climb. She lost only a few seconds of her lead to finish in fifth place, defending the pink jersey of the overall leader.