News

The Tour de France is such a big race that the organizers of the rest of the competitions usually avoid coinciding with its dates. However, the Giro d'Italia Donne has done just the opposite: it starts a day before the Tour and will overlap with the French grand tour for its entire duration. Surely, the organizers have thought that the exposure that the Tour gives to cycling can benefit them instead of harming them. We'll see if the bet pays off.

Route

In its return to the Women's World Tour after a year of relegation to the ProSeries due to deficiencies in television broadcast, the Giro d'Italia Donne presents on this occasion a 10-stage route. The race starts with the only time trial stage of the race, a 4 km prologue, that gives the ITT specialists a chance to wear the pink jersey. During the first days, there will be chances for sprinters (stages 2, 3 and 5) and for puncheurs (stages 4 and 6), while the mountain is concentrated in the last days (stages 7, 8 and 9). Finally, the race closes with another flat stage ending in the center of Padova, which will presumably end up in another bunch sprint.

Favorites

After Anna Van Der Breggen’s retirement, Annemiek Van Vleuten (1200) is the big favorite to take the general classification and get her third Giro. Her main rivals should be Elisa Longo Borghini (1200), Juliette Labous (800), Elise Chabbey (1000), Lucinda Brand (800) or Marta Cavalli (1000), although the starting list is at a fairly early stage and surely there will be more candidates.

In addition, a fierce battle for the sprints is also expected, since the best sprinters in the world will not miss the event: Mariane Vos (1000), Lotte Kopecky (1000), Elisa Balsamo (1000) and Marta Bastianelli (800) are part of this list of fast women, which should also expand in the coming days.