The 10-day Giro Donne—also known as the Giro d’Italia Donne— stage race in Italy is one of the most well-known women’s stage races in the world, defined by its combination of short, hard stages punctuated by long climbing stages. It’s a race that can essentially be won in the first or second stage—as it was last year on stage 2—or may see the pink leader’s jersey trade between riders daily. This year, the pink jersey—the magnolia rosa—belonged to Annemiek Van Vleuten of Movistar, who claimed in on the fourth stage and held onto it for the overall win.
Riders including Elisa Balsama (Trek Segafredo), Marianne Vos (Jumbo Visma), Charlotte Kool (Team DSM), were strong contenders in the first half of the race. Van Vleuten moved into the GC lead after a win in Stage 4, with Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) and Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitane Futuroscope) close behind. Italy’s Chiara Consonni (Valcar Travel & Service) hovered in the top 10 through many of the race stages, finally winning the Stage 10 on the last day of racing. And while Van Vleuten was the clear race leader after Stage 4, she only won Stages 4 and 8, cementing her overall victory with smart tactical choices throughout each stage.
For those watching Americans in the race, the first stage and Saturday’s ninth stage were big moments: Kristen Faulkner (BikeExchange-Jayco) was the first rider to wear the pink jersey in the race, winning the 4.7-kilometer prologue. Then, on Stage 9, she took a second stage win. Sadly, Stage 4 set her back by a whopping 12 minutes in the overall, leaving her far down in the General Classification (GC) despite stellar results in several stages. However, her efforts were enough to put her in the Green Jersey for the win in the Mountains Classification.
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This year, there was another added issue for women riders to contend with: The Giro Donne ends a mere 14 days before the start of the eight-day Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the long-fought for women’s iteration of the Tour de France. Riders like Marianne Vos who were out of contention for top overall spots at the Giro had to decide between continuing to push through the final stages of the race versus taking extra recovery and training time before heading to the start line in Paris. And similar to last year when Vos pulled out of the Giro Donne early to focus on prep for Tokyo’s Olympic road race, she pulled out early again after taking her 32nd stage win of the race in Stage 6 (her second win in the 2022 iteration of the Giro Donne).
Want to get a taste of what’s to come in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift? Check out the Giro Donne stage highlights available on their website right now: Many of the key riders we expect to see at the front of the race in France took stage wins and podium finishes during these 10 days. And stay tuned as our coverage for the women’s Tour de France begins to ramp up in coming days!
Giro Donne 2022 Final Overall Classification - Top 10
- VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek (Movistar Team)
- CAVALLI Marta (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope)
- GARCÍA Mavi (UAE Team ADQ)
- LONGO BORGHINI Elisa (Trek - Segafredo)
- FISHER-BLACK Niamh (Team SD Worx)
- LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope)
- PERSICO Silvia (Valcar - Travel & Service)
- MAGNALDI Erica (UAE Team ADQ)
- LABOUS Juliette (Team DSM)
- BRADBURY Neve (Canyon//SRAM Racing)
