Annemiek van Vleuten and Amanda Spratt to co-lead Mitchelton-Scott at Giro Rosa

Mitchelton-Scott has set its sights on dominating the 2020 Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile — the “Giro Rosa.”

The dominant women’s pro cycling team is bringing Grace Brown, Lucy Kennedy, Sarah Roy, Amanda Spratt, Moniek Tenniglo, and current world road champion Annemiek van Vleuten to the nine-day stage race, set to run September 11 – 19.

Van Vleuten looks to continue her dominance — she’s already won six of nine starts this year — starting with the opening team time trial, on Friday.

The Dutch world champion said she’s both trying to relax ahead of the race, but also keep in mind the season is long, with a lot of racing ahead.

“I have been back in Italy to relax a bit mentally and to get a little bit more altitude exposure, because there’s still a long season ahead. I was already at a good level, so I didn’t really need to come back to altitude to train super hard,” said van Vlueten in a team statement. “I came to Italy with confidence and that’s also how I go to the Giro. I’m quite relaxed and excited, but also nervous because what’s hard for me, is that usually in stage races you cannot relax at any moment. So, it will be nine days fully focussed.”

Three-time Tour Down Under winner, and two-time world championship medalist Spratt will co-lead the team with van Vleuten, relying on her experience of third overall in the Giro Rosa in 2018 and 2019.

“The aim for the Giro this year is to win with the team. Annemiek has won the last two and I have also been on the podium both times as well. That has been very special to share the podium with Annemiek and also the whole team, these were such great team wins,” Spratt said.

Stage 1, Friday, is a 16-kilometer team time trial, and is followed up by two mountain stages over the weekend.