The Giro d’Italia Women is embarking on a brand new period beneath the well-established RCS Sport for its first 12 months of a four-year time period. With this modification comes heightened duty, strain, and expectations for the organisation to fulfil its promise to lift the general occasion stage and enhance on the shortcomings of the earlier editions.
This 12 months, the occasion is getting into its thirty fifth version, and there may be a lot to have a good time because the longest-running stage race in ladies’s biking.
It has traditionally provided the hardest programs, ten days of racing and a mountainous backdrop for one of the best cyclists on the earth to carry out, even whereas the earlier organisers typically labored with a shoe-string price range and generally fell wanting selling its marquee race, live-streaming and broadcasting, media communication, and security.
When RCS Sport assumed administration of the Giro d’Italia Women’s occasion, there was aid that the race would proceed within the arms of a trusted organisation, instilling confidence and pleasure in its future.
The organisation has an extended historical past of working occasions, together with the lads’s Giro d’Italia, Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, Il Lombardia, and lots of different smaller races, making a close to monopoly of racing in Italy.
It is anticipated that RCS Sport, leveraging its in depth expertise in organizing bike races, will convey rapid stability to the Giro d’Italia Women’s occasion and elevate it to satisfy, and probably even exceed, the Women’s WorldTour and Grand Tour requirements.
The biking world awaits what is predicted to be an action-packed bike race from July 7 to 14, however the sport’s stakeholders, together with followers, riders, and groups, may even be watching to see if RCS Sport lives as much as its dedication to elevating the Giro d’Italia Women.
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Something for everybody
The Giro d’Italia Women has historically provided a diverse course and that is still for this version of the race. Even although the variety of days has been diminished to eight, in comparison with ten, each stage will convey one thing new to problem the peloton.
Starting with a person time trial, longer than a prologue at 15.7km, it can have the texture of a standard Grand Tour begin the place by the race in opposition to the clock will kick off the battle for the maglia rosa, and supply someday for the time trial specialists.
The sprinters within the peloton shall be eyeing stage 2 into Volta Mantovana and stage 5 into Foligno. One intermediate dash on every stage will cater to riders going for the maglia rossa, the chief of the factors classification. Look out for Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco), Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ), Arlenis Sierra (Movistar) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek).
There are additionally a number of phases for the opportunists within the bunch on stage 3 into Toano, stage 4 into Urbino and probably stage 6 into Chieti. These mid-mountain phases embody difficult ascents, and all have uphill finishes that vary from various levels of issue.
Riders who will look to make a transfer on today may very well be Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ), Lizzie Deignan and Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek), Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ), Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (SD Worx-Protime).
Mountain factors are additionally on provide on the high of categorised ascents on phases 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and eight, catering to riders going for the maglia azzurra, chief of the Gran Premio della Montagna.
The last two phases will definitely present a backdrop for these riders aiming to safe the coveted maglia rosa; stage 7’s class 1 Passo Lanciano and the hors class Blockhaus, and stage 8 features a class 1 climb over Castel del Monte earlier than closing out the Giro d’Italia Women in L’Aquila.
No Vollering, however wide-open hunt for maglia rosa
Demi Vollering has opted to not compete on the Giro d’Italia Women and can deal with the Olympic Games and Tour de France Femmes.
The SD Worx-Protime all-rounder has loved a stage-racing profitable streak this season, claiming general titles at Vuelta España Femenina, Itzulia Women, Vuelta Burgos Feminas, and Tour de Suisse Women. These 4 victories, mixed with final 12 months’s late-season victory at Tour de Romandie, type a five-race profitable streak.
Had she began the Giro d’Italia Women, she would have been the outright favorite to win the maglia rosa, however she shouldn’t be the one rider to choose to skip this Grand Tour as GC rider Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) is not going to be on the beginning line, too.
The most up-to-date editions of the Giro d’Italia Women (beforehand referred to as Giro d’Italia Donne) have been dominated by Dutch riders Anna van der Breggen, who gained her titles in 2015, 2017, 2020 and 2021, whereas Annemiek van Vleuten gained her titles in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023. Marianne Vos additionally gained her titles in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
This 12 months’s peloton is way more open than earlier years, and whereas Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) begins because the favorite to win the title, a race as unpredictable because the Giro d’Italia implies that the battle for the maglia rosa may find yourself enjoying out throughout all eight phases this 12 months.
Eight editions of the Giro d’Italia Women have been gained by an Italian rider, 5 of these titles earned by Fabiana Lupperini, so the nation will definitely help Longo Borghini to convey the maglia rosa dwelling.
Cyclingnews has chosen the highest riders to observe who’re confirmed to race on the 2024 Giro d’Italia Women.
Blockhaus x 2
The organisers of the Giro d’Italia have historically included iconic ascents in designing the route for the ladies’s Grand Tour reminiscent of Zoncolan, Mortirolo and Stelvio, and this 12 months is not any completely different.
In truth, ASO has taken be aware, additionally providing iconic climbs as a part of the primary two editions of the brand new ladies’s Tour de France, together with La Super Planche des Belles Filles, Col du Tourmalet, and this 12 months’s route will end atop Alpe d’Huez.
The main information from the route announcement was the addition of Blockhaus to this 12 months’s occasion, accomplished not simply as soon as however nearly twice on stage 7.
The riders will first sort out the Passo Lanciano, a climb that simply cuts off the ultimate few kilometres of the Blockhaus, earlier than taking over the complete ascent.
Blockhaus, at 1,663m, is a frightening 17.7km with a mean gradient of seven.8%. The difficult mountain, mixed with a virtually double effort, will definitely present the backdrop for a serious GC battle forward of the finale stage 8 in L’Aquila.