Eve of the Giro Rosa's 'partenza'

Castellania, birthplace of the Italian 'Campionissimo', will be the finish of a technical, demanding opening TTT in Italy, start to a real 'Grand Tour' with no respite in its ten stages.

The Movistar Team headed to Cassano Spinola on Thursday, the town in the Alessandria province (Piedmont) set to hold Friday’s start of the 30th Giro Rosa (UCI Women’s WorldTour) with a tough TTT (18km) towards Castellania, the hometown of Fausto Coppi.

Next to the ‘Casa’ painted with the effigy of one of the most charismatic riders in history trained Blue riders Biannic, Gutiérrez, Jasinska, Merino, Patiño and Rodríguez, who covered in the morning two laps of the technical, lumpy course – a kind of route which will repeat itself over the ten days of grueling racing.

The squad led by Sebastián Unzué (manager), Jorge Sanz and Pablo Lastras (sports directors) then went to the teams’ presentation in the evening, with many big stars of the women’s peloton bolstering the level of a race to be broadcast (highlights) on PMG Sport, Voxwomen and GCN.