Giro d'Italia 34th Giro d’Italia Donne, June 30th - July 9th, 2023

[Samu Cuenca]

After a battle between the Italian federation and outgoing organiser Starlight was settled last week (for now at least), the Giro Donne will start this Friday. The full start list isn't known yet, but we know that Annemiek van Vleuten will be hunting her fourth overall win, which will equal Anna van der Breggen's tally (Fabiana Luperini leads with five), in her final Giro (as things currently stand), while former world champion Marta Bastianelli will be dreaming of a stage win in her final pro race.


Route

The 2023 edition isn't filled with a lot of big moutains, nor does it have many TT kilometres or an abundance of likely sprint stages.
Instead it offers a selection of multiple medium mountain and hilly stages, where different scenarios can play out.

All stages will finish at around 14 to 15 o’clock local time. The TV broadcasts will last about 2 hours, but some key moments might occur off camera.


Stage 1: Chianciano Terme, 4.4 km ITT

The race starts this Friday with a 4.4 km time trial (not a prologue) in Chianciano Terme, Toscana. It’s not completely flat like the one in Cagliari last year and it also appears to be more technical with more corners and roundabouts, so the winner’s average speed will probably be lower than Kristen Faulkner’s 49 km/h from Cagliari.

Spoiler: Map

Stage 2: Bagno - Marradi, 101.4 km

For stage 2, the riders will travel 120 km north to the outskirts of Firenze. 101.4 km awaits, but the main action will happen inside the final 30. The top of Passo della Colla di Casaglia is crossed just 15.7 km from the line in Marradi. 16.4 km at 4.5% doesn’t tell the full story, as the second half averages over 6%. It’s not hardest climb in the world, but your race can still be over if you have a bad day here. The descent doesn’t seem to be too tricky in itself, but a Žigart/Koppenburg level descender might still find a way to get dropped/lose additional time.

Spoiler: Climb profiles and map

Stage 3: Formigne - Modena, 118.2 km

Stage 3 begins in Formigine and finishes in Modena 118 km later. There’s one categorised climb (2.2 km, 6.6%), but it comes much too early to keep it from ending in a bunch sprint, which could be the only one in the race.

Spoiler: Climb profiles and map

Villabianca climb

Stage 4: Fidenza - Borgo Val di Taro, 134.3 km

Stage 4 is a lumpy thing with multiple shorter climbs. They don’t appear to be very steep, but 134 km up and down will definitely hurt some of the riders. The final climb, Strela (5 km, 3%), was part of the Italian championships in 2019, but it was climbed multiple times in that race. It could be a stage where breakaway might make it, if it doesn’t end in a reduced sprint where riders like Vos and Persico will fancy their chances depending on how selective it gets.

Spoiler: Climb profiles and map

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Stage 5: Salassa - Ceres, 105.7 km

Stage 5 from Salassa to Ceres is a big stage for the GC riders. It has a larger amount of climbing than any of the other stages. Passo/Pian del Lupo (10.1 km, 8.4%), this year’s Cima Coppi, begins after 17 km, but the riders will already have climbed for around 7 km by then. Many riders will be dropped here no matter what, but the favourites may be holding back knowing there are still 80 km left from the top. The long descent from Lupo is followed by an uncategorised climb (3 km, 4.5%).

Colle Forcola/Vietti is the next challenge. It’s mostly false flat, but it does have a few km above 5% with some sections at 10%. The final climb is Sant'Ignazio where the final 4 km is at 8%, so differences can definitely be made there. The last uphill drag to the line in Ceres is approx. 3.5 km at 4% (the final few hundred meters are the steepest). Attacks can be made both uphill and downhill on this day, so expect Annemiek van Vleuten to try and seal up the overall win on this stage.

Spoiler: Climb profiles and map

(Only the first 3 km to Prascorsano will be ridden)

Stage 6: Canelli - Canelli, 105.2 km

Stage 6 will be an easier day in the saddle, but the 105 km around Canelli are not for the (pure) sprinters. 3 categorised climbs await the riders in the final 40 km. Castino is the first and longest one followed by Calosso and the last 3 km towards the finish (approx. 5% avg., but it flattens out in the final km).

Spoiler: Climb profiles and map

Stage 7: Albenga - Alassio, 110.4 km

Stage 7 takes place in Liguria in the area where both the Trofeo Laifueglia and the disastrous Trofeo Ponenta Rosa was held earlier this year. And just like the queen stage in that race, Passo del Ginestro features, but the rest of it is different. The second climb, Il Vigneto/Borgo di Ranzo, is followed by Colle/Cima Paravenna and 7 km mostly downhill before the final 2.6 km to the Santuario della Guardia. Altitude won’t be an issue on this stage, but the amount of climbing will definitely be able to create gaps between the best riders (depending on how close the GC is beforehand).

Spoiler: Climb profiles and map

Vigneto/Borgo di Ranzo

(Only the last 2.6 km of the climb will be ridden)

Stage 8: Nuoro - Sassari, 125.7 km + Stage 9: Sassari - Olbia, 126.5 km

Just like in 2022, the race will have a rest day, but this time they’re instead travelling to Sardinia where the race will conclude. Stages 8 and 9 are both about 125 km up and down, where a Van Vleuten could make the difference, but it could also very likely be for the puncheurs or breakaways. It’s poor planning that none of what appears to be the most important stages take place during the weekend, although they will of course still clash with the Tour stages no matter what.

Spoiler: Maps

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Finally, a stage race I could ride without training a lot beforehand.

 

[yaco]

I can see three or four stage victories for Vos in this underwhelming route.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

This route is as if the organisers thought 'what would happen if we designed a race with nothing but mid-mountain stages'?, except that they confused mid-mountains with middling mountains somewhere along the way. Normally these really soft routes are centred around the middle and southern parts of the country but they don't even have that excuse this time. And it's not like they're consistently taking the hardest routes into their finish locations either...

 

[awavey]

Not that I necessarily think the route planners were thinking this way, but say if they made the stages a really hard mountainous route, ignoring most often or not its the stifling summer heat that makes this race tougher than most, giving its proximity to TdFF now, might some of the teams then have saved their best riders for TdFF instead ? which then leaves the Giro feeling like a downvalued reserves race.

I think clearly some teams riders are skipping the Giro to focus solely on the TdFF, and maybe just to avoid picking up an injury or getting caught up in one of those silly somebody elses crash, whilst maybe others are using it to build form ahead of TdFF, be interesting to see if there are some tactical dns's nearer the end.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Not that I necessarily think the route planners were thinking this way, but say if they made the stages a really hard mountainous route, ignoring most often or not its the stifling summer heat that makes this race tougher than most, giving its proximity to TdFF now, might some of the teams then have saved their best riders for TdFF instead ? which then leaves the Giro feeling like a downvalued reserves race.

I think clearly some teams riders are skipping the Giro to focus solely on the TdFF, and maybe just to avoid picking up an injury or getting caught up in one of those silly somebody elses crash, whilst maybe others are using it to build form ahead of TdFF, be interesting to see if there are some tactical dns's nearer the end.

It seems like they have tried to cut as many corners as possible, so it can't be ruled out that they've simply planned the route after who were willing to pay the most money for the race to visit, or they've started designing the route too late for them to reach deals with more famous finishing locations and mountain passes.

Last year they had what appeared to be a generous prize pool, equaling the on of the TDFF, but they're allegedly not done paying the riders yet, and this year's pool is pretty much just the minimum of what is allowed by the UCI for a 9 stage WWT race.

 

[KOM]

No mountain stage!?

 

[ice&fire]

No mountain stage!?

They don't need a mountain stage to shred the peloton

 

[Samu Cuenca]

They don't need a mountain stage to shred the peloton

You don't need proper mountains to shred the men's peloton either, but it would still be pretty disappointing not to have them in their Grand Tours. Sure including a real mountain stage in this race would probably not change the final outcome much, but having a lot of similar stages is definitely not a great route design either.

It's much easier to create good stages for the women, because you don't need to find 200 km of road and multiple big climbs. The Vuelta had Lagos de Covadonga this year, and the TdFF will have Tourmalet. The Giro Donne has a very exciting climb in Passo Lupo, but it's placed very early in the stage, and if it does blow everything up, you won't even be able to watch it.

 

[KOM]

They don't need a mountain stage to shred the peloton

Im well aware and yet i say again: No mountain stage!?

 

[Izzyeviel]

theres at least two mountains on stages 2 & 5. What more do you want? Cobbles?

 

[KZD]

theres at least two mountains on stages 2 & 5. What more do you want? Cobbles?

The climb at stage 2 its 16km at 4.5%, that's not a mountain, that's a gloryfied false flat, especially at low altitude.

Stage 5 is really good but it will a middle mountain stage not a high mountain one which is clearly what's missing in this route.

 

[theyoungest]

A little surprise in Jumbo's lineup for the Giro: Fem van Empel is in there.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1674338260129128450

 

[KOM]

theres at least two mountains on stages 2 & 5. What more do you want? Cobbles?

You have no idea what a mountain stage is I suppose

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Shame how this race not only failed to build upon its great status from a couple of years ago but is actually deteriorating into irrelevancy. Build-up towards the race was a mess, stage design disappointing, positioning on the calender also really needs to change.
Being unable to compete with the TDFF is one thing but it looks like it's already fallen behind the Vuelta Feminina as well which is kinda crazy.

 

[Didinho]

Wasn't there a report that it was not sure this Giro could start? So better this than nothing I suppose.

 

[theyoungest]

Shame how this race not only failed to build upon its great status from a couple of years ago but is actually deteriorating into irrelevancy. Build-up towards the race was a mess, stage design disappointing, positioning on the calender also really needs to change.
Being unable to compete with the TDFF is one thing but it looks like it's already fallen behind the Vuelta Feminina as well which is kinda crazy.

I actually think the position on the calendar is quite good, in terms of media attention. If I speak for the Netherlands, the Tour is really an event on its own that attracts a totally different (and way larger) audience than other races, and there's daily talkshows around it. In those talkshows you also always get a little summary of the Giro Donne stage that day. I think in this way there's a lot of people seeing it that otherwise wouldn't have. Probably more people than have seen the men's Giro...

 

[Izzyeviel]

You have no idea what a mountain stage is I suppose

 

[awavey]

Shame how this race not only failed to build upon its great status from a couple of years ago but is actually deteriorating into irrelevancy. Build-up towards the race was a mess, stage design disappointing, positioning on the calender also really needs to change.
Being unable to compete with the TDFF is one thing but it looks like it's already fallen behind the Vuelta Feminina as well which is kinda crazy.

It's probably been a mess because it's the current organisers last year running it, not that they've had a great record under their watch, but they're probably even less interested in solving problems, or creating an event to be proud of.

We will see if RCS can boost the race though I thought most people's reaction was that Vuelta Feminina was underwhelming as a race

 

[Izzyeviel]

what time is kick off?

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

I actually think the position on the calendar is quite good, in terms of media attention. If I speak for the Netherlands, the Tour is really an event on its own that attracts a totally different (and way larger) audience than other races, and there's daily talkshows around it. In those talkshows you also always get a little summary of the Giro Donne stage that day. I think in this way there's a lot of people seeing it that otherwise wouldn't have. Probably more people than have seen the men's Giro...

Hmm very interesting. I take your word for it as I can't speak for the Netherlands but I feel everywhere else the Tour swallows everything and no other race (mens or womens) can sort of co-exist at the same time and expect bigger attention.

 

[Izzyeviel]

what time is kick off?

Friday. Turns out i've been spending the whole day thinking its friday... ffs

 

[Red Rick]

Me looking at the route

 

[Krzysztof_O]

No Fauniera, no Stelvio, no Finestre and no Mortirolo. The only proper climb of the race is 80 km from the finish. Could be better.