The 132 kilometres stage saw the peloton tackle a near 16km circuit on eight occasions, with a bunch sprint considered to be the likely outcome.

A three-rider breakaway of Sweden’s Sara Penton and the Italian duo Chiara Perini and Carmela Cipriani aimed to spring a surprise in this International Cycling Union Women’s WorldTour race.

They moved away after nearly 50 kilometres of racing but the peloton kept them within a catchable distance.

The breakaway’s lead reached around two minutes before the main field began to slowly reduce the deficit.

With the sprinter’s teams picking up the pace in the closing 20 kilometres the three rider move proved destined to fail.

The trio were caught as the race reached four kilometres to go, making a sprint finish inevitable.

D'hoore secured the stage victory, the Mitchelton-Scott rider crossing the line ahead of yesterday’s stage winner Kirsten Wild of the Netherlands.

United States’ Alexis Ryan rounded off the top three.

The race lead remained with Team Sunweb for the third consecutive day, aided by their team time trial success on the first stage.

The pink jersey changed for the third day though, with Leah Kirchmann of Canada moving to the top of the standings after earning bonus seconds on the stage.

She replaces her team-mate Lucinda Brand, the Dutch rider having led overnight.

The race is due to continue tomorrow with a 109km stage in Piacenza.