The 2019 Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile provided 10 days of excellent women's racing. Looking back on the only women's Grand Tour, Cyclingnews draws six conclusions from the Giro Rosa.
1. Van Vleuten was in a league of her own
It was the second consecutive Giro Rosa victory for Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott). She also took two stage wins along the way, and, as if that wasn't enough, the 36-year-old also won the points and mountains classifications.
Van Vleuten's 2018 overall victory (with three stage wins, even) was impressive already, but her 2019 defence of the maglia rosa was on another level. With two overall victories, Van Vleuten enters a select group of only eight riders who have won the Giro Rosa more than once. Of those, only five have won it two times in a row – with the last to do so being Marianne Vos in 2011 and 2012.
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Van Vleuten made her mark on the race by attacking at the bottom of the Passo Fraele – the finishing climb to stage 5. In a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, none of her competitors even attempted to follow the Dutchwoman, and she won the stage by almost three minutes, laying the groundwork for her overall victory. Her winning margin of 52 seconds in the next day's time trial was almost small in comparison.
In fact, the groundwork for Van Vleuten's victory had been laid far earlier. Following an injury lay-off after the World Championships last September, she went back into training with a vengeance in December, stringing together training camp after training camp.
In January, Van Vleuten joined the men's Mitchelton-Scott stage-racing squad for 'La Sojourn' – an 11-day stage-race simulation across southern Portugal and Spain that included 'stages' of up to 250km. Stints on Tenerife in February and March followed, only interrupted by a carefully-chosen programme of spring Classics (of which Van Vleuten won Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège). In May and June, she returned to Tenerife for three weeks, followed by another week at altitude near Livigno, Italy.
2. The Dutch continue to dominate, winning seven stages
3. The cancellation of the Gavia summit finish probably didn't change the result (much)
4. New riders continue to break through
5. Don't celebrate until you've crossed the line...
6. No live TV coverage of a race that still has a lot of unfulfilled potential
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/6-conclusions-from-the-2019-giro-rosa
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