The 2019 Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile (also known as the Giro Rosa) will mark the next round of the Women's WorldTour, held from July 5-14 in northern Italy. It will be one of the toughest editions as this year's race will feature summit finishes on the Passo Gavia and at Malga Montasio, while there will also be an uphill time trial and a tough hilltop finale to the concluding stage in Udine.
In the latest of our 'countdown' features ahead of the Giro Rosa, Cyclingnews enlisted the help of Canyon-SRAM's all-rounder Kasia Niewiadoma to select the top 10 riders to watch for this year's race.
Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott)
Annemiek van Vleuten, the time trial world champion, played a dominant role in the 2018 Giro Rosa, winning three stages and the overall title by more than four minutes over runner-up Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and 6:30 ahead of her teammate Amanda Spratt. This year, Van Vleuten won Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and then has spent time training at altitude in Tenerife and on the Passo Gavia in Italy, specifically to prepare to win a second overall title at the Giro Rosa.
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Niewiadoma says: "She is an incredible climber. In the last two years, she has made huge progress to the point where, in my opinion, she is unbeatable when climbs are longer than 10km.
"She knows how to prepare for a race like the Giro Rosa. She spends a lot of time at altitude. Once she knows what she wants, she can deliver. Her attacks are extremely brutal. She attacks when everyone is already over the limit, and then she continues riding super hard and steady. That makes her an incredible climber.
"In my opinion, she is the woman to win the Giro Rosa. There might even be a big gap between her and second place."
Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans)
Omer Shapira (Canyon-SRAM)
Liane Lippert (Sunweb)
Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott)
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv)
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Bigla)
Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo)
Sofia Bertizzolo (Team Virtu)
Editor's pick: Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM)
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/giro-rosa-niewiadomas-10-riders-to-watch
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