Eneco Tour Women: Femke Markus solos to victory as Lieke Nooijen defends lead on punchy stage 3

Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) soloed to victory on stage 3 of the Eneco Tour Women, attacking multiple times to eventually go away on her own 17km from the finish and hold off the chasers all the way to the line.

The reduced bunch sprinted out the uphill finale for the minor placings and, more importantly, seconds on GC, with race leader Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike) finishing second to defend her hold on the leader's jersey.

Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels) completed the stage podium in third, just ahead of Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic PostNL). Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) survived the hilly, punchy day to make it to the finale in the main group, but had to settle for sixth on the uphill drag to the line.

Nooijen now leads the race by 28 seconds over Markus, who started the day 43 seconds down, and will look ahead to the final two stages to try and defend her lead and take home the overall title.

Stage 3 featured four laps around Sittard and Watersley, with the Schatsberg climb mid-lap and a kick up to the finish line for a fairly punchy stage. Only 88km long, it wasn't a day where an early break could be allowed to go up the road, so things stayed together for much of the first two laps, before splitting up on a climb towards the end of the second loop, putting Sandrine Tas (Lotto Intermarché) in difficulty.

That split came back together again on the third lap, but the aggression didn't let up, with SD Worx-Protime in particular trying to put the pressure on Visma-Lease a Bike with multiple attacks. Nooijen herself had to get involved in the attacks to try to defend and extend her lead, too, but it was hard to make anything stick – though the constant digs were wearing down the group, with fewer than 25 riders left with 20km to go.

Markus, who had already attacked solo earlier in the race, went away again with 17km to go, building a gap of 20 seconds. Visma-Lease a Bike and Picnic PostNL were trying to chase her down, but they couldn't reel the strong Dutch rider back in and she soloed to the win.

Despite not bringing her back, Visma's work did mean Markus only took five seconds on the line, so Nooijen limited her losses on GC and remains fairly solidly in the lead, after dispatching with Tas who had been at 20 seconds but lost time on stage 3.

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