Foldable Bikes Party: Giro Rosa countdown: Five riders to watch

Sunday, 1 July 2018

Giro Rosa countdown: Five riders to watch

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Defending champion Anna van der Breggen announced in June that she has decided to skip the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile and instead compete in her first mountain bike World Cup in Val di Sole, which leaves the 10-day stage race wide-open for a new champion.

Also known as the Giro Rosa, it is the 14th round of the Women's WorldTour, and is notorious for being the toughest, most unpredictable but prestigious event to win. Cyclingnews picks five riders to watch at this year's race held from July 6-15 in Northern Italy.

Megan Guarnier (Boels Dolmans)

Megan Guarnier had the best season of her career in 2016 when she won the Tour of California, Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria, Philadelphia Cycling Classic and then an overall victory at the Giro Rosa.

Last year, however, her season was derailed by two significant crashes. Enduring a concussion at the start of the season, she recovered with enough time to train for and then salvage a strong Giro Rosa. She was part of the Boels Dolmans team that won the opening team time trail, and she won the stage 10 final, finishing fourth overall behind her title-winning teammate Anna van der Breggen. Just when she seemed to be on track for a stellar performance at the World Championships in Bergen, she crashed and sustained a broken jaw during the race.

After a restful off-season, Guarnier came into 2018 with a clean slate. She had a slower-than-usual start, but a 12th place at the rain-soaked Strade Bianche, a race she had won three years earlier, showed that she had built a good base. She was 10th in the Tour of Flanders and then bounced back to take third place at Flèche Wallonne, showing that she was ready to contend for victory again.

A win finally came in early May at the Tour de Yorkshire where she won the second of two stages to Ilkley and secured the overall title. She travelled to California to compete with the US national team at the Amgen Women's Race where she had hoped for a good results, but in the end, could only manage 20th.