Marianne Vos won stage three of the Giro d'Italia Donne in Sardinia ©Getty Images

Marianne Vos took her 31st stage victory at the Giro d'Italia Donne with an impressive sprint finish to the route from Cala Gonone to Olbia on day three in Sardinia.

The Netherlands' Vos got revenge for stage two, when she was pipped to the line by Italy and Trek–Segafredo's Elisa Balsamo after launching her sprint early.

The Jumbo-Visma rider stuck with the strategy again and was this time rewarded with the first-place finish after 2 hours 48min 22sec.

Vos' compatriot Charlotte Kool of Team DSM raced through for second as Balsamo, in the pink jersey, followed behind.

Balsamo still leads the general classification but Vos has closed the gap to just six seconds.

Georgia Baker of Australia and BikeExchange-Jayco makes up the top three 12 seconds away from Balsamo.

"I wanted to try again after my second place yesterday, so I’m glad it worked," said Vos.

"We knew there was a big chance of a bunch sprint today.

"The final was quite technical.

"The team put me in perfect position, but after that it was difficult to maintain that position in the corners.

"I was able to follow Romy’s [Kasper] wheel and she delivered me well in the last kilometre."

After an uneventful start, the stage burst into life towards the end.

Similarly to yesterday, the breakaway riders were eventually caught with a little more than 10 kilometres to go and the closing moments were chaotic with sprinters losing the tail of the trains.

Movistar's Danish athlete Emma Norsgaard did not follow her team-mates as they paced out in front.

She would eventually catch her team as the pack crossed the finish line but she was unable to disrupt the same trio who secured yesterday's podium spots.