The Italian recovered from her crash on the opening day to sprint to third on stage two and second on today's final stage.
Yesterday, Elisa Balsamo continued her consistent run of results with a strong third-place finish on stage 2 of the Tour de Pologne Women, sprinting onto the podium after another fast and technical finale in Lubartów.
Elisa went one better on today’s final stage into Lublin, taking a strong second place and second overall in the General Classification.
After the peloton controlled the day’s breakaway on the predominantly flat second stage, the race built towards an inevitable bunch sprint. Lidl-Trek remained composed throughout the closing kilometres, keeping Balsamo well positioned as the pace intensified and the fight for wheels reached its peak.
The final kilometre was a frantic battle for position, but the Italian once again demonstrated her trademark speed and race craft to secure third place against one of the strongest sprint fields of the season. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) claimed victory, while Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) took second after recovering from a late bike change, with Balsamo completing the podium.
Today’s final stage saw much of the same with the days breakaway being caught with just six kilometres remaining of the one hundred kilometre stage. Clara Copponi dropped Elisa off on the wheel of Wiebes with 400 metres to go but the dutch women proved strongest yet again, taking the win just ahead of Balsamo.
The result adds another podium to what has already been an impressive summer for Balsamo, who arrived in Poland after a hugely successful Giro d’Italia Women where she collected four stage victories and the points classification.
