{"id":1958233,"date":"2026-05-27T05:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T02:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1958233"},"modified":"2026-05-27T05:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T02:35:11","slug":"a-gruesome-gravel-mountain-will-decide-the-giro-ditalia-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1958233","title":{"rendered":"A Gruesome Gravel Mountain Will Decide the Giro d\u2019Italia Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/giro-women.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Jim Cotton<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated May 26, 2026 11:43PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A stoney super-climb will split the differences between a stack of GC talent at this year\u2019s Giro d\u2019Italia Women.<\/p>\n

Starting in a newly optimized location on the calendar on Saturday, May 30, the 9-day race has attracted the best of the Women\u2019s WorldTour.<\/p>\n

Double defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini is back racing after sickness and chasing a 3-peat.<\/p>\n

Demi Vollering comes to the corsa rosa<\/em> for the first time since 2021 as part of her ambitious new-look race calendar.<\/p>\n

Reigning Tour de France champion Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot is the only classification titan missing from a crew of climbers that includes Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Marlen Reusser, and four-time pink jersey Anna van der Breggen.<\/p>\n

At 1,180km long and with more than 12,000 meters of ascent, the 2026 Giro d\u2019Italia Women is touted to be the hardest in the race\u2019s long history.<\/p>\n

Two huge mountain stages, three dangerous hilly stages, and a cruel climbing TT will shape the narrative of the fight for pink.<\/p>\n

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But it\u2019s just one summit that will determine the overall winner on June 7 \u2013 the Colle delle Finestre.<\/p>\n

Colle delle Finestre will play queenmaker of the Giro Women<\/h2>\n
Giro d\u2019Italia Women champion Longo Borghini is back racing after her spring was torpedoed by a chest infection.<\/span> (Photo: Luc Claessen\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The women\u2019s peloton will race the Colle dell Finestre for the first time on stage 8 of the Giro d\u2019Italia Women.<\/p>\n

At 19km long and topping out at close to 2,200m, the menacing Italian Alp towers over the race\u2019s parcours. And the 7km stretch of ashen grey gravel on its desolate upper slopes will crown the race\u2019s queen.<\/p>\n

Its relentlessly consistent 9 percent grade and unpredictably loose surface staged historic scenes both the last times it appeared in the men\u2019s Giro.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to see the Colle doing anything different when it debuts next week in the Women\u2019s WorldTour.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Finestre will decide the 2026 Giro Women. It did in 2025 for the men and probably will for the women in 2026,\u201d Longo Borghini said from the route presentation in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dirt roads make it a special climb. It\u2019s also long and hard from the very start.\u201d<\/p>\n

The menacing gravel climb Colle delle Finestre looms over the Giro Women.<\/span> (Photo: Rit Etape \/ \u00a9 Tim De Waele)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Notorious summits like the Col du Tourmalet and Madeleine have taken their turns to blow apart the Tour de France Femmes. The Vuelta Femenina was decided on the Angliru only a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, June 6, the Finestre will become the latest mythical mountain to wreak stage-racing havoc.<\/p>\n

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Also be sure not to miss Wednesday\u2019s 5th stage through the Dolomites.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an old-school bruiser that stacks climbs back-to-back through the final 100km and will set the tone for what\u2019s to come 72 hours later on the Finestre.<\/p>\n

Key stages:<\/h3>\n

Stage 5: Wednesday, June 3 \u2013 146km, 3,400m+<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Stage 8: Saturday, June 6 \u2013 105km, 2,800m+<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Wiebes tops sprint field, Faulkner leads US hopes<\/h2>\n
Faulkner is scheduled to race all three grand tours with EF Education-Oatly this season. (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the Giro d\u2019Italia Women won\u2019t only be about the mountains.<\/p>\n

Three flat stages offer a deep field of fast-finishers the chance to take a swing at GOAT-status sprinter, Lorena Wiebes.<\/p>\n

Charlotte Kool, home hopefuls Chiara Consonni and Elisa Balsamo, and rising stars Cat Ferguson and Lara Gillespie will be out to disrupt the Dutchwoman\u2019s ridiculous 50 percent win rate for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Kristen Faulkner headlines the U.S. contingent for the Italian tour. Alexis Magnier, Lily Williams, and Caroline Wreszin join the Olympic superstar in flying the stars and stripes.<\/p>\n

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Reigning world champion Magdeleine Vallieres and fan favorite Alison Jackson are among eight Canadians on the provisional start-list.<\/p>\n

How to watch the action?<\/p>\n

Racing will be broadcast on HBO Max in the U.S. and FloBikes in Canada. Warner Bros Discovery via Eurosport and HBO Max are the \u00a0key broadcasters for the UK and Europe. SBS Sport will cover you in Australia.<\/p>\n

Giro d\u2019Italia Women start list<\/h3>\n

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Jim Cotton<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated May 26, 2026 11:43PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/giro-ditalia-women-2026-preview\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/giro-women.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated May 26, 2026 11:43PM A stoney super-climb will split the differences between a stack of GC talent at this year\u2019s Giro d\u2019Italia Women. Starting in a newly optimized location on the calendar on Saturday, May 30, the 9-day race has attracted the best of the Women\u2019s WorldTour. Double defending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1958233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1958233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1958233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1958233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1958233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}