Women's peloton breaks through maximum distance barrier at Giro Rosa

The women's peloton raced their longest stage in history at the 2020 Giro Rosa (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

The organisers of the Giro Rosa have been criticised for not providing the required 45 minutes of live television during the nine-day race from September 11-19. However, some applauded them for breaking through the maximum race distance barrier set by the UCI during stage 4’s 170km race into Tivoli, while also cautioning that longer races weren't necessarily more exciting.

"Technically speaking, the UCI rules state that we are not allowed to have stages longer than 160 kilometres but today was longer," Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv) told Cyclingnews following the stage. "It wasn’t quite [as long] and I looked at my clock, it was just over 165km, plus a neutral zone of 12 kilometres, so it was closer to 180km. 

Kirsten Frattini
Deputy Editor

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.