Trofeo Alfredo Binda History
The Trofeo Alfredo Binda holds a distinguished place in the annals of women’s cycling, regarded as one of the crown jewels of the sport’s calendar. Dating back to 1974 when Giuseppina Micheloni claimed victory in its inaugural edition, the race has maintained its prestige over the decades, interrupted only by a brief hiatus at the end of the 1990s and the disruptions caused by the Covid pandemic in 2020.
Known for its challenging route characterised by punchy climbs and descents back to the finish in Cittiglio, the Trofeo Alfredo Binda often favours climbers and puncheurs seeking to break away from the bunch and thwart a mass sprint. Recent editions have strikingly balanced between bunch sprints, exemplified by Elisa Balsamo’s triumph in 2022, and solo breakaways, reminiscent of Elisa Longo Borghini’s impressive solo victory the year before.
Marianne Vos, a dominant force in women’s cycling and a winner in 2024 at Omloop het Nieuwsblad boasts an impressive tally of four victories in the race, showcasing her versatility in triumphing both from solo escapades and group sprints. Joining her in the pantheon of repeat winners is Italian climbing legend Maria Canins, who shares the distinction with four victories of her own. The Trofeo Alfredo Binda has also witnessed British success, with riders like Nicole Cooke, Emma Pooley, and Lizzie Deignan securing victories between 2005 and 2016. In 2021, Elisa Longo Borghini added her name to the list of double winners with a stellar performance.
The 2023 edition of the race etched another memorable chapter in its history as Shirin van Anrooij claimed her maiden Women’s WorldTour victory with an impressive solo breakaway, adding to the race’s legacy of thrilling and unpredictable outcomes.
Previous Winners
2023
Shirin van Anrooij
2022
Elisa Balsamo
2021
Elisa Longo Borghini
Trofeo Alfredo Binda 2024 Profile
TV Coverage
Sunday 17th March 2024
Live on Eurosport/Discovery across Europe
Max in USA
Flobikes in Canada
RaiSport in Italy (free to sign-up + watch but needs a VPN)
13:30-15:00
All times in GMT
Twitter: #TrBinda
Startlist: FirstCycling
Trofeo Alfredo Binda 2024 Contenders
Lidl-Trek brings a wealth of options with great previous results here. 4 of them have finished in the top-10 at some point in their careers and that doesn’t include Gaia Realini. They’ve got last year’s winner in Shirin van Anrooij who is looking in some good form at the moment after 4th at Omloop and 5th at Strade Bianche. There’s also the 2022 winner Elisa Balsamo who won the bunch sprint behind Van Anrooij to claim a 1-2 for the team last season. She was 2nd at Ronde van Drenthe last weekend. Lizzie Deignan isn’t quite in the same recent form but won the 2015 and 2016 editions of Trofeo Alfredo Binda. If nothing else, that experience should help her teammates. Amanda Spratt has been a runner-up here before but I think this year will be in an elite supporting role for the likes of Van Anrooij and Balsamo. We know that Gaia Realini is a strong climber which is useful here but doesn’t have a sprint to finish that off if it comes down to a large group situation. It’ll be an all-or-nothing roll of the dice for her.
For once, SD Worx comes into a race where they’re not the obvious favourite on paper. The likes of Elena Cecchini and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak both have good results in the past. The Italian has 5 top-10 finishes, with the most recent of those coming in 2022. For Van den Broek-Blaak it’s 6 top-10s, one of those also coming in 2022. Both won’t be considered major favourites but might be worth fitting into a fantasy team. Niamh Fisher-Black is certainly a strong climber and recently finished 3rd in GC at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana with a stage win along the way. The team’s best shout is probably Marlen Reusser who won the GC at Setmana CV and as we know, certainly has the power to pull away like Van Anrooij did here last year. She might be the right blend of climbing prowess and powerful rider to win solo. She has also talked about having Covid since her win in Spain, so might not be quite as strong here.
Lotte Kopecky is a late addition to replace Chantal van den Broek-Blaak, which rather turns things on its head. She becomes an obvious major favourite being able to climb and sprint well.
This is going to be a Soraya Paladin race for Canyon SRAM. The Italian has been in the top-10 for each of the past 4 years with a best of 3rd at 2022’s race. It’s tough to see her going clear or beating Balsamo in a sprint but she’s enough of an all-rounder to contest once more. She’ll be supported by Elise Chabbey who is coming off an 8th place at Strade Bianche. She was 7th in the 2022 edition of the Trofeo Alfredo Binda herself. She might be used as an attacking option to go clear and force others to chase. It’s a similar story for Antonia Niedermaier. The German was an early withdrawal from the Trofeo Ponente in Rosa due to a virus. Hopefully now recovered, she’s another who we’ve seen win a Giro stage but going clear on a lumpy day. The true wildcard will be Chloe Dygert for her first race of the 2024 road season. She’s appeared on startlists before and been withdrawn by race day though, so we’ll see.
Movistar will fancy their chances here. Arlenis Sierra was 4th in last year’s race and certainly has the ability to crest the climbs and sprint well at the end of races. The Cuban just finished 5th at Nokere Koerse as well this week. She’s supported by climbers like Olivia Baril and Claire Steels. Baril’s best result here is only 66th but she’s been great this year with a pair of victories over in Spain. We’ve not seen Claire Steels since she fractured 2 vertebrae over at the UAE Tour. She was 9th here last year but maybe it’s asking a lot to repeat that on her first race back. Otherwise, she would be key to the team’s success.
Liv-AlUla-Jayco can count on Mavi Garcia to get a strong result for them. The Spanish rider has a pair of top-10 results in Trofeo Alfredo Binda over the last 3 years and her climbing should put her into contention again. She’s certainly strong this season but when she attacks hasn’t been able to put distance into her rivals. That should reduce her chances of a win but a solid result is still more than possible. She’s also got young teammates in good form at the moment in Ella Wyllie and Caroline Andersson. Both are worth keeping an eye on.
Silvia Persico should lead UAE Team ADQ here and has finishes of 6th and 8th over the last 2 seasons. She’s been ok so far in 2024 with a best result of 5th at Trofeo Palma Femina and 8th in Trofeo Oro in Euro more recently. At her best she can climb and sprint which will make her a contender. Sofia Bertizzolo has done well here in the past, peaking with 2nd in 2022. She looked strong in the Australian part of the season but has been quiet since the racing started back in Europe. The in-form rider on the team is Karlijn Swinkels. 2nd at Trofeo Oro in Euro and 4th at Le Samyn des Dames. I suspect she will have to support others here but is worth a long shot. It’s a similar case for Dominika Wlodarczyk who impressed with 2nd at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race this year. She unfortunately crashed out of the first stage of the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana and hasn’t raced since. This marks her first race back so we might have to temper expectations.
On paper dsm-firmenich PostNL might struggle here relative to other races as no rider has a previous top-10 at Trofeo Alfredo Binda. Juliette Labous has come closest with 11th and 12th finishes in the last 2 seasons. She will probably have to try and go clear or join a very small group to get a higher result. Teammate Pfeiffer Georgi should be solid and looked good at Ronde van Drenthe. She still made the top-10 there despite working on a lead-out for Charlotte Kool and having to keep pushing having emptied herself. The team do have another option in Francesca Barale, with the young Italian looking good on punchy climbs this season. Particularly good in Australia this year, we might see her do well here.
FDJ-Suez has a number of options here with Vittoria Guazzini potentially the best of them. She’s going to be confident after winning Le Samyn des Dames and will want to try and match the 3rd place she got in last season’s race. She can be supported by a wealth of options that includes Grace Brown, Marta Cavalli and Evita Muzic. The latter finished 10th at Strade Bianche and 3rd place on a Setmana CV stage too this year. Grace Brown has been quiet since scoring 5th place at Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. The Aussie has been supporting others at Le Samyn and Strade Bianche mind. The return of Marta Cavalli appears to be on the cards which will be good to see. The Italian has been struggling at the start of this season after a fall during training camp in February. Hopefully, this is a nice way to return to the peloton.
After a highly impressive Tour Down Under campaign where we finally got to see the real Sarah Gigante after a couple of tough years, the Aussie will be making her 2024 European debut at Trofeo Alfredo Binda. Provided the form is still there she can look to improve on the 23rd place she earned in 2021. She should get some strong support again from Julie van de Velde and Kim Le Court, the latter did well at Strade Bianche to finish 25th and should continually improve throughout the year. Van de Velde doesn’t have a great result here but will be more than useful in getting Gigante into the best positions.
Puck Pieterse has decided to extend her road campaign after a good 3rd at Ronde van Drenthe. You could see the frustration at other riders coming to the fore in that race as what would’ve been a nice group move was hindered by road tactics and team politics. Van Anrooij has shown that a CX rider can do well here and a podium is always a possibility again. She will get support from Yara Kastelijn, who is further proof about CX riders here, after finishing 11th at last year’s Trofeo Alfredo Binda. There’s plenty of other climbing support on this team but the weakness might be if it comes down to a reasonable-sized bunch sprint.
EF Education-Cannondale will look to carry on their good start to 2024 here. Coryn Labecki has traditionally done well here, including winning the race in 2017 and finishing in the top-10 twice since – the last of which was in 2022. She’s kinda transitioned to more of a road captain role but still looks like their fastest rider on paper if it comes to a sprint. Veronica Ewers didn’t look in her best form at Setmana CV and that’s probably because of later goals this season to look at. This race should suit but there is that question about her form. Kim Cadzow should tick both the boxes though. Winner at Trofeo Ponente in Rosa and 5th at Trofeo Oro in Euro, both of those races had some climbing but it’s the sort of punchy climbs that should do well at Trofeo Alfredo Binda. She will be exposed in a final sprint but should have no problem getting there.
Laboral Kutxa will look to Ane Santesteban as their leader. The Spanish rider only has a best result here of 17th but that’s not going to be fully reflective of what she can do due to working for others over the years. Able to race for herself we’ve already seen her finishing 2nd at Women Cycling Pro Costa de Almeria and look solid elsewhere too. If the race stays together, the team might pivot to getting Nadia Quagliotto to the finish. She was strong in the finishes in Spain earlier this season but had a bit of an iffy Italian weekend at Strade Bianche and Trofeo Oro in Euro. If she’s there at the end, she can be a strong finisher.
There isn’t much in terms of previous results for the Human Powered Health riders but there is plenty of good form instead. Ruth Edwards was just 3rd at Trofeo Oro in Euro, a race that featured repeated uphill ascents before a sprint finish. That bodes well as the American has managed to achieve some good results in her comeback this year. Yulia Biriukova is another with a good recent result with 2nd at Clasica de Almeria her best result of 2024. She’s a good one-day racer on lumpy terrain. Kiwi Henrietta Christie also did well in that race, finishing 7th there and is a good punchy climber too. Linda Zanetti might have the fastest finish out of this list and took 3 3rd places in a row between the Clasica de Almeria and Trofeo Ponente in Rosa. It may be worth noting that none of the mentioned results are at WWT level, so a top-10 might be quite a good result with maybe the 10th-20th places more likely.
Trofeo Alfredo Binda 2024 Outsiders
Both Cofidis riders here had a good Trofeo Oro in Euro with Julie Bego taking the best result of her young Elite career with 4th place. The Junior World Champion in Glasgow 2023 has impressed with a number of breaks already this season but the last race saw those moves translate into a result too. She’s going to continue to impress and it would be a surprise if she wasn’t visible here. Nikola Noskova was 7th in the same race which came off the back of a strong performance at Setmana CV which saw the Czech rider finish 8th in GC. Between them, there’s a chance for a strong Women’s WorldTour level result for the team.
Also coming here with good recent results for BePink-Bongioanni are the pair of Monica Trinca Colonel and Ana Vitoria Magalhães. I’ve mentioned Trinca Colonel a few times now in the outsider section and she really delivered at Trofeo Ponente in Rosa by finishing 4th in GC with a consistent set of stage results. With EF Education-Cannondale dominating that race, she was the highest finisher not on the team in pink. A bit further back in GC, Ana Vitoria Magalhães took what I think is the first European podium by a Brazilian since Flavia Oliveira in 2019’s La Picto-Charentaise. That’s hopefully a confidence boost to push on more for the rest of the 2024 season.
Top 3 Prediction
- Lotte Kopecky
- Elisa Balsamo
- Soraya Paladin
