Giro d'Italia Donne 2023 - Analysing the contenders
Cyclingnews showcases the riders to watch in the hunt for stage wins and the maglia rosa
The 2023 Giro d'Italia Donne organisers may have been keeping a tight lid on the details of the race, but the peloton and its key contenders have been steadfast in their preparation for an all-out battle for the maglia rosa from June 30-July 9.
This year marks the 34th edition of the Giro d’Italia Donne and its route will, once again, cater to the most powerful riders. There is an opening time trial, relentlessly steep pitches, and the mountainous terrain that the event is so well known for incorporating.
The 2023 Giro d'Italia Donne route will cover 928km across nine stages, and the main feature will be the Passo (Pian) del Lupo, which is marked as the 'Cima Coppi' of the Giro d'Italia Donne, the highest peak of the race, on stage 5. There are also several other hilly stages that could make their mark on the overall classification.
Cyclingnews highlights the riders to watch for stage wins and the overall classification at the 2023 Giro d'Italia Donne.
Annemiek van Vleuten
The 2022 Giro d'Italia overall winner, Annemiek van Vleuten, will return with her Movistar team to defend her title. Van Vleuten is in her final year of racing before retirement and is aiming to win the Giro d'Italia Donne for the fourth time in her career, having also won in 2018 and 2019.
The reigning world champion hasn't had the early-season form that she had anticipated, but she captured her season's first victory at the revamped La Vuelta Femenina in May, indicating that she is progressing toward her next two stage-racing targets, aiming to win both the maglia rosa and the maillot jaune in July.
She recently completed a high-altitude training camp and then descended to take on the Dutch National Championships before turning her attention to the Giro.
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While the details of the route have been sparse right up until the final run in to the race, Van Vleuten will be a favourite for the queen stage 5, which includes the Passo (Pian) del Lupo, a day that could see her make a major move for the stage win and the overall title.
Gaia Realini
Gaia Realini is a pure climber who has made her mark on the peloton in her debut season with Trek-Segafredo – renamed Lidl-Trek from the Giro Donne – and presents an outside chance of ending the six-year stretch where either Van Vleuten or her compatriot Anna van der Breggen have ended the race in pink.
Realini, 21, is from Pescara along the coastal line of the Adriatic Sea in Italy, and began her first full seasons of competition with Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria in 2021 and 2022. Still relatively new to the sport, Realini turned heads in her debut at the Giro d'Italia Donne in 2021, where she finished 11th overall. She went on to finish 13th in the 2022 edition, shining in the mountain stages.
There is no denying Realini's talent, which has shone through this year with remarkable performances at the UAE Tour, where she finished second behind teammate Elisa Longo Borghini on the steep climb Jabel Hafeet. Then there was Flèche Wallonne, where she finished third on the Mur de Huy, and a stage win and third overall at La Vuelta Femenina.
Realini has made a name for herself and has been referred to in the media as 'the real deal' in women's cycling.
She will likely be a protected rider for this Giro d'Italia, and the stage that could suit her best will be stage 5's Passo (Pian) del Lupo ascent. It will be one of the telling points of the nine-day race that will likely see her in a head-to-head battle with Van Vleuten.
Mavi Garcia
Mavi Garcia (Liv Racing TeqFind) has become one of the major contenders in professional cycling. The former duathlete had a late start to her cycling career but finished third at the Giro d'Italia Donne last year.
This year she aims to take another step up with an eye on the maglia rosa.
The Spanish all-rounder has always been an aggressive racer, preferring to light up the race with early breakaways and sometimes taking glory in the process. Her most memorable moments have been wins at GP Plouay and a stage at Vuelta a Burgos, as well as second at Strade Bianche and Emakumeen Nafarroako Klasikoa. She has also finished multiple times in the top-10 overall at the Giro.
Last year, however, she took another step forward, challenging the toughest stages of the Giro d'Italia Donne with podiums on stage 4 into Cesena and stage 7 to Passo del Maniva. Garcia really showed her strengths when up against Annemiek van Vleuten and Marta Cavalli in the mountains and in pursuit of the overall classification.
Further to that, she secured 10th overall at the Tour de France Femmes, despite a crash on the gravel stage into Bar-Sur-Aube, which cost her a higher overall placing.
This year, Garcia aims to show what she's really capable of at both the Giro d'Italia Donne and Tour de France Femmes but the Italian race is where she expects to have the best chance of excelling. After winning a fifth national road race title at the Spanish Championships, Garcia spoke with Cyclingnews about why the Giro d'Italia Donne route suits her better and why age and experience matters in the chase for the overall title at the Corsa Rosa.
Elisa Longo Borghini
If it isn't Gaia Realini that holds the hopes of the team in her hands, it's Elisa Longo Borghini, and vice versa. Longo Borghini is familiar with the podium at her home stage race; second in 2017 and third in 2020.
Recently claiming national titles in the time trial and road race at the Italian Road Championships, Longo Borghini is capable of winning on any stage, given her versatility as a rider, and that makes her one of the favourites to win this year.
Trek-Segafredo, to be renamed Lidl-Trek, line up with several cards as the squad also, included Gaia Realini and Lizzie Deignan.
All three could play well off of one another, with Longo Borghini going for the majority of the stages via her aggressive racing style and savvy ability to breakaway, while Realini could focus on stage 5's major climb, and Deignan adds experience and a possible contender for the overall too.
Longo Borghini started this season with an overall win at the UAE Tour but was then unwell due to COVID-19 illness ahead of the Spring Classics. She bounced back fairly quickly with third at Tour of Flanders and second at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
She comes into the Giro d'Italia Donne having just secured third overall at the Tour de Suisse, showing that her form has continued to improve into the summer stage racing season. However, the rider has stated that she is not necessarily aiming for the overall victory but rather stage wins and promises to race with true grit and tenacity to deliver a performance that will do the tricolore jersey proud on home soil.
Juliette Labous
Juliette Labous has developed into one of the top stage racers in the world, particularly throughout the last couple of seasons, as she has stepped up to more of a leadership role at Team DSM.
Last year marked a breakthrough when she won the overall title at Vuelta a Burgos and the queen stage 7 at the Giro d'Italia Donne along with fourth overall at the Tour de France Femmes.
Adding power and resistance as the primary targets in a new training regimen means that Labous is hoping to improve on all her performances this year. Although her main target will be at the Tour de France Femmes, the Giro d'Italia Donne will provide a telling stepping stone and she will aim for near-top form for the nine-day race.
Labous has also enjoyed consistent leadership roles and she frequently uses her savvy tactical skills along with her strength on all types of terrain to excel in both one-day races and stage races. In fact, it has been her ability to accurately read a race and join the promising breakaways that has led to much of her success in the past.
The Giro d'Italia Donne is well-known for its unpredictable terrain and style of racing, and it almost perfectly suits the type of rider that Labous has become. Watch for her to take the next step in her career in Italy.
Marianne Vos
What can we say about the rider who has won a record 32 career stage victories at the Giro d'Italia Donne, except that she will undoubtedly be aiming to add to that tally during this edition of the Corsa Rosa.
Last year, Vos added two more to her total, winning on stage 3 into Olbia and stage 6 into Bergamo before departing the race early.
In what became a remarkable summer of racing Vos went on to win two stages and the overall points classification at the Tour de France Femmes while wearing the yellow jersey for five stages before her Dutch compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten secured the overall title. It was a full-circle moment in her career, having helped kick-start the event as a one-day La Course by Le Tour de France back in 2014.
Vos has a long history with the Italian stage race, having won three overall titles in 2011, 2012 and 2014. Her 32 career stage wins have also shown her versatility as a rider with her ability to sprint, climb, breakaway and time trial making her one of the most captivating riders of all time. When it comes to the Giro d'Italia Donne she has done it all.
This year's undulating route is one that could best suit a rider like Vos, and it would not surprise anyone to see her winning stages and wearing the maglia rosa at some point.
Lorena Wiebes
When it comes to the sprints, Lorena Wiebes will be the overwhelming favourite for stage wins and the points jersey.
A pure sprinter, Wiebes will be best suited to the flat to hilly stages, and it will be in SD Worx's favour to keep the field together for the Dutch rider as their best option for stage wins while also protecting Niamh Fisher-Black for the mountains.
The team also includes Blanka Vas, Elena Cecchini, Barbara Guarischi, and Femke Markus, who can all support Wiebes in the finals, while Anna Shackley will be free to support Fisher-Black.
Wiebes will be up against other strong sprinters such as Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma), Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Team Jayco AlUla), Megan Jastrab (Team DSM), Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ), Rachele Barbieri (Liv Racing TeqFind), and Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM Racing), who has shown to have a fast finish at the end of a challenging race.
Still, even with Wiebes on hand for stage wins, former overall winner and director Anna van der Breggen has said everyone on the team will have a chance for success.
"In the Giro Donne, we are not starting with one outspoken leading rider. Of course, we are aiming for stage wins with Lorena Wiebes, and we hope Niamh Fisher-Black can ride a good general classification. But everyone will be able to get their own chance. That allows us to race freely."
Silvia Persico
Silvia Persico is not yet confirmed to UAE Team ADQ's roster, but she has shown that she is one of the biggest up-and-coming talents in women's cycling last year while racing for Valcar with a seventh overall at the Giro d'Italia Donne and fifth overall at the Tour de France Femmes, where she was widely regarded as the revelation of the French Grand Tour.
Her versatility was not a surprise, however, as the rider secured the bronze medal at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships and top-10 in some of the biggest Spring Classics last year.
Her year, to date, is moving in an upward trajectory with top-10s at Trofeo Alfredo Binda, Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne, and she won Brabantse Pijl.
Runner-up at the Italian Road Championships, behind Elisa Longo Borghini, shows that she is coming into top form just in time for this key period of racing.
Much like Marianne Vos, this year's route could well-suit a rider like Persico even more so than last year's Tour de France Femmes. Apart from the opening time trial, the race will offer short and steep ascents scattered throughout the nine days of racing.
There are some tough challenges in this Giro, such as the Passo (Pian) del Lupo, the highest peak of the race, on stage 5, but Persico showed that she was capable of handling the longer climbs when she finished 6th at Le Markstein and 3rd on La Super Planche des Belles Filles at last year's Tour.
There are also several other hilly stages and breakaway opportunities where she could make a mark on the overall classification.
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig
Last year's runner-up Marta Cavalli is not yet confirmed for the start of the Giro d'Italia Donne, but her teammate Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig will be competing and is always a contender in the mountain stage races.
Uttrup Ludwig has had some strong performances this year, and one can only assume that she has been preparing for this time of the season when the Giro d'Italia Donne and Tour de France Femmes take centre stage on almost everyone's racing calendars.
Third at Strade Bianche, 10th at Amstel Gold Race, 11th at Vuelta a Burgos, and 4th at a shortened CIC-Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées, won by Cavalli, show some form progression for the Dane.
Last year, she used the Giro d'Italia Donne to find her top form and ended up finishing 6th overall before securing a dramatic stage win at the Tour de France Femmes, where she finished 7th overall.
Uttrup Ludwig and Cavalli are both the perfect candidates for a successful Giro d'Italia Donne, especially this year, as both riders excel across steep and long ascents and are tactically savvy riders in breakaways and finals.
If Cavalli does start the Giro d'Italia Donne, watch for an engaging FDJ-Suez duo in Italy.
Niamh Fisher-Black
Demi Vollering will not be starting the Giro d'Italia Donne, but SD Worx will field a team with riders they say offer 'a nice mix of experience and talent."
Under-23 world champion Niamh Fisher-Black will lead the general classification charge, and while she has grown into one of the up-and-coming contenders, this will be one of her biggest undertakings since turning pro.
No stranger to the Giro d'Italia Donne, last year Fisher-Black won a second under-23 jersey and finished fifth overall, which was an improvement on the 2021 edition, where she finished ninth overall and the 2020 edition, where she finished 21st.
She has also steadily progressed this season, securing a stage win on the final day of the Tour de Suisse, which was her first win on the Women's WorldTour. Earlier this year, she was 20th at La Vuelta Femenina, but perhaps might have finished higher up had she not been barraged by officials following a crash on stage 5. She crashed of Itzulia Women in stage 3 but then went on to finish 8th overall at the Tour de Suisse.
With support from SD Worx, this could be Fisher-Black's year to continue her upward trajectory and stand on the overall podium at the Giro Donne.
Chloé Dygert
A surprise addition to the Canyon-SRAM team for the Giro d'Italia Donne, it now makes perfect sense. Given that the race starts with a short time trial, she has a very real chance of winning stage 1 and taking the event's first maglia rosa in Chianciano.
Dygert is a former time trial world champion and seven-time world champion on the track in the pursuit and team pursuit disciplines. She took a 14-month break from road racing due to a variety of health issues, including continued treatment for a leg injury sustained in a serious crash at the 2020 Worlds in Imola.
She took time off to recover from the Epstein-Barr virus, and she had heart surgery to treat a longstanding tachycardia issue last year.
She returned to competition on the road in May, and her success extended from La Vuelta Femenina through to RideLondon Classique, where she won a stage at her first Women's WorldTour event.
Only two US riders have won the overall title at the Giro d'Italia Donne; Mara Abbott won overall titles in 2010 and 2013, and Megan Guarnier won the overall title in 2016, but Dygert could be a contender to win stages and spent time in the overall race lead.
Marta Bastianelli
Racing in her last Giro d'Italia Donne, Marta Bastianelli has announced that she will retire at the conclusion of the nine-day race on July 9.
The former world champion has been a staple contender during many Spring Classics throughout her career. This year, she had a strong season with podiums at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Omloop van het Hageland before landing victories at Le Samyn des Dames and the opening stage of the Festival Elsy Jacobs.
She has a long history racing the Corsa Rosa, competing in nine editions during her career. Bastianelli won stage 9 into Polla in 2017, has also captured multiple podium stage finishes and would undoubtedly like to finish her career with a stage win at the Giro.
There are a number of flat-to-hilly stages that could suit Bastianelli, such as stage 3 into Modena, stage 4 into Borgo Val di Taro, stage 8 into Sassari and stage 9 into Olbia.
Bastianelli will likely be using her experience and knowledge of the race to support UAE Team ADQ teammate Silvia Persico, but also watch for her to go for stage wins as she celebrates the end of a 20-year career.
Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
