Midway through the nine-day Giro Femminile stage race, Rabobank Women’s Team rider Marianne Vos is wearing the pink leader’s jersey with three stage wins to her name in the first four days of racing. Vos won the opening stage, the Stage 2 time trial, and the Stage 4 road race to Montecatini Alto.

Vos, the world’s top woman racer in UCI rankings, got off to a strong start in Italy, winning the first two stages including a 7.2km TT in Rome on Saturday. On Sunday she surrendered the maglia rosa to American Evie Stevens, who won Stage 3 to take over the race lead.

Entering Stage 4, a hilly 98km stage in the Tuscany region, Stevens had a 12-second lead over Vos. Riding aggressively from the start on her Giant TCR Advanced SL, Vos was determined to regain the GC lead. She made her move on a descent following the Category 2 Goraiolo climb, and then rode solo up the final climb to win atop Montecatini.

The Stage 4 win put Vos back in the lead, with a healthy gap of 1:31 over Stevens in second. The 2012 Giro Femminile continues through Saturday.