When we think of the Giro Rosa, and its long and illustrious 30-year history, we immediately recollect the iconic champions: Fabiana Luperini, Nicole Brandlë, Mara Abbott and Marianne Vos, and more recently look to the Dutch duo Anna van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten. Yet when the celebratory pink confetti settled after each of those accomplishments, year-after-year during the last decade, there has been one person who has been the staple of Italy's most iconic women's stage race – Tatiana Guderzo.
It's easy to overlook Guderzo, who races for BePink, as a potential contender for the overall title at this year's Giro Rosa. The upcoming parcours is touted as the toughest in the event's history with the inclusion of a summit finish on the daunting Passo Gavia as the focal point.
The mountainous route that spans northern Italy is well-suited to the world's best climbers, and although she is a strong climber in her own right, she is not usually part of that small and exclusive club. The obvious front-runners for this year's race are defending champion Van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott), and her compatriot and rival Van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans), along with Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv), Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott), Katie Hall (Boels Dolmans), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Bigla) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).
ADVERTISEMENT
Even among the Italians, Guderzo is often eclipsed by her compatriots Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), and maybe even Erica Magnaldi (WNT-Rotor) and the rising talent Sofia Bertizzolo (Virtu).
But Guderzo is a consistent performer at the Giro Rosa and her results speak for themselves. A closer analysis of her performances show that Guderzo has competed in the Giro Rosa on 13 occasions. Of those, she has placed in the top-10 overall nine times, and of those, she has stood on the overall podium twice. She has also earned the event's best young rider award and was three times the event's top Italian rider.
A bid for the overall victory might be a stretch for Guderzo, but she is a solid contender for stage wins and has a stated goal of wearing the coveted maglia rosa. To count Guderzo out, even as a dark-horse contender, would be a mistake.
Retirement after Tokyo Olympic Games
Thinking to the future
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tatiana-guderzo-a-quiet-contender-for-the-giro-rosa
No comments:
Post a Comment