Rosa Round-up: Essential Giro Rosa stage one coverage
We’re two days into the Giro Rosa, with stage two starting today at 11:20 a.m. CET (7:20 p.m AEST). Slovenia hosted the opening stages– a prologue, won by Annemiek van Vleuten (Bigla), and stage one, which ended in a bunch sprint dominated by Velocio-SRAM as Barbara Guarischi took her first…
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We’re two days into the Giro Rosa, with stage two starting today at 11:20 a.m. CET (7:20 p.m AEST). Slovenia hosted the opening stages– a prologue, won by Annemiek van Vleuten (Bigla), and stage one, which ended in a bunch sprint dominated by Velocio-SRAM as Barbara Guarischi took her first win of the year and Tiffany Cromwell rounded out the podium. Lucinda Brand (Rabo Liv) finished in second place in both the prologue and Saturday’s road stage, and will start stage two in the maglia rosa.
All about stage two
Following two days of racing in Slovenia, the Giro Rosa returns to Italian ground for stage three. Starting in Gaiarine, the 121.5km stage includes two circuit laps, three intermediate sprints and three categorised climbs. We love the stage-by-stage previews on Velofocus. Read up on stage two here.
How to follow stage two
Sadly, there is no live stream for the Giro Rosa this year, but we’ve been using #GiroRosa2015 to follow the races as they unfold. Velocio-SRAM and Sem Versteeg have both been tweeting live race updates from the ground – and we hope they continue over the next eight days.
Although we don’t have a live stream, we do have an hour-long highlights video on RAI Sport 2. It looks like it’s scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CET (3:30 a.m. AEST) on Sunday- which you can confirm by checking this schedule. Word to the wise: Rai Sport2 is geo-restricted so have your favourite work-around ready.
Giro Rosa stage one
The second day of the Giro Rosa was a fairly straightforward day. Ana Covrig (BePink), Malgorzta Jasinska (Alé Cipollini) and Chantal Hoffman (Lotto Soudal Ladies) slipped away from the peloton shortly after neutral gave way to proper racing, and Bigla kept the break in check.
Just before the 10-kilometre mark, the peloton overtook the early leaders and the sprint trains readied for the finale. Guarischi proved quickest, handily coming off Brand’s wheel 100 metres before the finish line to score the best result of her young career.
Following her stage win, Guarischi said: “I waited until 100 metres because it was a headwind. And then yeah -what can I say? I won!”
More stage one details, including additional comments from Guarischi and Cromwell, here.
Current standings
Lucinda Brand (Rabo Liv) leads the general classification overnight, having assumed the race lead from Annemiek van Vleuten (Bigla). She also leads the points competition.
Malgorzta Jasinska (Alé Cipollini) earned the green QOM jersey, riding in the stage one breakaway, and Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Rabo Liv), 13th overall, keeps the white jersey of the best young rider. With the 10 second bonus she pocketed with the stage one win, Guarischi jumped up to second overall on Saturday and into the blue jersey representing the best Italian rider.
You can find full results (stage and all classifications) here.
Daily Diaries
Beyond our race reports, we also have two rider diaries for you. Australians Lizzie Williams (Orica-AIS) and Tiffany Cromwell (Velocio-SRAM) have generously agreed to daily check-ins.
The joy of a plan perfectly executed – Tiffany Cromwell’s Giro Rosa stage one diary:
I will admit that I did start to get slightly nervous when I saw 400 metres to go and knew the right-hand corner was approaching before we had began our full final lead-out, but Alena had it all under control. Accelerating just before the corner to put us even with Rabo Liv at the front, Alena forced Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) to jump early and start her sprint out of the corner. Barbara was able to put herself straight into Brand’s wheel on the exit, ultimately giving her the perfect lead-out as I tagged on the back continuing to sweep.
It was so fast on that final straight and I was impressed that we had nobody swamp us from behind as I watched Barbara time her sprint to perfection, coming off the wheel at 100 metres and taking a huge win.
She let out the loudest roar -typical Italian full of emotion.
Aussie Aussie Aussie: Checking in with Giro Rosa debutante Lizzie Williams on day two:
In my head, I just had to constantly tell myself that I deserve to be up there and I’m as good as anyone else there today. As soon as you start thinking that you don’t deserve to be racing in the front, you’re racing at the back and that’s where all the accidents happen. You have to show your authority on the bike and that’s done either verbally or physically.
You got to have balls to be racing in Europe.
Team race reports
More and more teams are doing reports, which is fabulous. We’ve collected links to all the ones we’ve seen. Video above is Wiggle Honda’s daily video update.
Beyond Ella
The two best things coming out of the Giro Rosa beyond Ella have got to the be the photo galleries from the incredibly talented Balint Hamvas (CyclePhotos) and Sean Robinson (Velofocus). We’ve been lucky enough to work with both this season.
Be sure to pore over their respective galleries:
Tweets and ‘Grams
These are some of our favourite social media posts since the Giro Rosa presentation last night. We’re also (obviously) digging the #TiffTakeover over on Ella Instagram.
Strategy, decisions, encouragement…. @WiggleHonda team meeting prior to the first stage of the #GiroRosa #6thToday pic.twitter.com/CD4aSeBTak
— Wiggle Honda (@WiggleHonda) July 4, 2015
Happy July 4! Next best thing to being in America on the 4th is representing the U.S. abroad! I will wear the Stars &Stripes proudly today!
— Megan Guarnier (@MeganGuarnier) July 4, 2015
Congrats @BabyG_90 & @tiffanycromwell 1st & 3rd #GiroRosa2015 @velociosports @sramracing @zippspeed ? @cyclephotos pic.twitter.com/mcysEqVoae
— SRAM Road (@SRAMroad) July 4, 2015
Lession 1: never fall asleep ??? hope @ElenaCecchini92 aka #sleepingbeauty isnt my roomie tonight or I’m in trouble ? pic.twitter.com/jJz9uDY3DA
— Carlee Taylor (@carleetaylor1) July 4, 2015
@carleetaylor1 lesson number 2: never start a battle against me….. ?????? pic.twitter.com/U3EW1hfDOV
— Elena Cecchini (@ElenaCecchini92) July 4, 2015
Name: @RomyKasper Job description: In-Peloton Refreshment Manager #GiroRosa2015 http://t.co/LgJJKrOUqN pic.twitter.com/TZPoD8hg13
— cyclephotos (@cyclephotos) July 4, 2015
The life on tour! Will be moving us and our @dhbsport bags around for another 8 days. Now over the boarder to Italy! pic.twitter.com/9U8ZIUd18a
— Emilia Fahlin (@EmiliaFahlin) July 4, 2015
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Expect in-depth, varied coverage of each and every Giro Rosa stage on Ella CyclingTips. We will have daily race reports within an hour of each stage finish, full results, daily diaries from Australians Tiffany Cromwell (Velocio-SRAM) and Lizzie Williams (Orica-AIS) and the Rosa Round-up with of our favourite links, videos, photos and social media posts from each day’s stage. Also check out Ella on Instagram for our #TiffTakeover.
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