Annemiek van Vleuten continued her impressive return from injury to win the prologue in Premondiale Giro Toscana Int. Femminile - Memorial Michela Fanini on Friday night. The former Dutch time trial champion stormed through the 2.22km course in a time of 2'54".

Van Vleuten was five seconds faster than second place finisher Valentina Scandolara (Orica-AIS). The prologue was a good start to the race for Bigla Pro Cycling Team as Vera Koedooder placed fourth, Lotta Lepistö seventh and Iris Slappendel ninth.

"I'm very happy with a comeback like this," van Vleuten said after learning of the result. "I'm 2 seconds faster than when I did this prologue before. I knew that you had to be fast and really speed up after the two corners and I am happy that it worked out. I'm also happy for my teammates who did a great ride. Tomorrow I will be in pink and we will look to defend the jersey with pride."

The race continues on Saturday with a 133,6km followed by the final stage on Sunday from Lucca to Capannori over 96,3km.