The Giro d’Italia Women kicks off with a time trial in the historic city of Brescia. Riders will navigate a 15-kilometre-long route, swiftly transitioning to open road stages, including a sprint opportunity on stage two and a mountain-top finish on day three. The route then offers a mix of hilly and rolling terrain, with stage five providing another chance for sprinters. The penultimate day, known as the queen stage, presents over 3500 metres of climbing within 120 kilometres, culminating in a summit finish atop the renowned Blockhaus ascent. Depending on the previous day’s gaps, the final stage could witness a GC raid, but breakaway or punchy riders might also have a chance.
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL 2024 Giro d’Italia Women Line-up
- Francesca Barale (ITA)
- Eleonora Ciabocco (ITA)
- Franziska Koch (GER)
- Juliette Labous (FRA)
- Josie Nelson (GBR)
- Becky Storrie (GBR)
- Nienke Vinke (NED)
Team Objectives
With final preparations nearing completion after solid training blocks and recent races, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL aims to make a significant impact. Their primary goal is a strong General Classification finish, led by Juliette Labous. The team has fond memories of last year’s second-place overall finish and is eager to replicate or surpass that success.
Team coach Kelvin Dekker shared the team’s enthusiasm: “We’re looking forward to travelling to Italy for the second Grand Tour of the season with this exciting squad. Our objective for the race is clear, with Juliette as our finisher for the GC battle, and we’re confident that the team we have here can support her in the best possible way for us to achieve our goals together. We have really good memories of this race from last year with our second place overall, so we have once again made this one of our target goals for the season. However, we will need to keep the focus on where our strength lies, and that is displaying some brilliant teamwork throughout the race so that we can keep each other in the fight every day. We’re looking forward to getting underway and showing our team colours out on the road.”
Francesca Barale, one of the team’s Italian riders, expressed her excitement: “I think we’re all looking forward to the Giro. Personally, I’m of course really excited for it as as I really enjoy racing in my own country. We all have some good memories from last year with Juliette’s GC podium, and that was special for me too with it being my first Giro. This year we want to aim for even more. I’m confident that with Juliette and the rest of the team’s form, then we can go for a great result. I think it would be a successful Giro if we already managed to do what we did last year; work well as a team, race aggressively and make an impact on the race. I think the results will then come if we do that. We have a nice group, and everyone is really motivated to do that and get the best possible GC result with Juliette. Personally, I think last year I made some good steps in the Giro so this year I want to do the same. I’ve just had a good training block and I’m looking forward to seeing how I develop, and how I can help Juliette in the race.”
The team’s focus remains on teamwork, aggressive racing, and making an impact, with the ultimate goal of achieving a top result in the GC.
