Ladies Arianna Fidanza is looking forward to Giro Rosa
Today the Giro Rosa (11/09 – 19/09) begins, a nine-day WorldTour stage race across Italy. The Giro was originally scheduled at the beginning of summer, but because of the obvious reason the race couldn’t take place. Arianna Fidanza (25) is one of the six Lotto Soudal Ladies who will be appearing at the start. She is looking forward to racing in her home country, a country that was hit hard by the corona crisis.
Arianna Fidanza: “I am very excited to be riding the Giro Rosa. It feels like a victory to be racing in Italy again after the difficult months we’ve had. After Strade Bianche on 1 August, our team’s first race after the restart of the season, this will be the second race in my home country this year. The corona virus hit our country very hard and we all went through difficult times, also because of the necessary lockdown. But now we have things to look forward to again.”
The Giro Rosa starts with a flat team time trial of 16.8 kilometres in Grosetto this afternoon.
Arianna, who is from Bergamo, already participated four times in the Giro. She conquered a top ten place on a stage two times. In 2016 she claimed the sixth place on stage four and last year she finished tenth on the final stage.
Arianna Fidanza: “I’m happy about the preparation I had towards this Giro. In July I had a three-week training camp in Livigno. Then I restarted the season in Strade Bianche. After a training camp in Belgium with my teammates, to do recons of the Classics, I participated in GP de Plouay and La Course. I knew before Plouay that my shape was good. I had a crash in Plouay and fell on my knee, but despite that I finished 6th! This result made me very happy.”
“My shape is good and I’ll do my very best for the team! They always offer us a hard course at the Giro, with almost no chances for a sprint this year. I do see several opportunities to join a breakaway. But first there’s the team time trial. We did a recon of the course on Wednesday and Thursday. We don’t often ride team time trials, but I have some experience from previous editions of the Giro for example. And I actually like the discipline. I’m looking forward to kicking off the race with my teammates. I really can’t wait to start this Giro!”
Line-up Lotto Soudal Ladies: Teuntje Beekhuis, Arianna Fidanza, Lotte Kopecky, Lone Meertens, Abby Mae Parkinson and Julie Van De Velde.
Stages
Stage 1 (11/09): Grosseto – Grosseto (16.8 km) (TTT)
Stage 2 (12/09): Civitella Paganico – Arcidosso (124.8 km)
Stage 3 (13/09): Santa Fiora – Assisi (142.2 km)
Stage 4 (14/09): Assisi – Tivoli (170.3 km)
Stage 5 (15/09): Terracina – Terracina (110.3 km)
Stage 6 (16/09): Torre del Greco – Nola (97.5 km)
Stage 7 (17/09): Nola – Maddaloni (112.5 km)
Stage 8 (18/09): Castelnuovo della Daunia – San Marco la Catola (91.5 km)
Stage 9 (19/09): Motta Montecorvino – Motta Montecorvino (109.9 km)
Photos: Facepeeters