Giro d’Italia Donne starting

The 17th edition of the Giro d'Italia Donne, reserved to the women elite category, will start on Friday, June 30 from Formello near Rome. There will be 17 teams, eight from Italy and nine from other countries, at the start of the race that will lead the riders over 894 kilometres to the final arrival set in Magreglio, home of the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Ghisallo.

All the main national teams and the most important UCI international sporting groups will take part in the race. Among the 134 athletes coming from 23 countries stands out the name of Italian Fabiana Luperini (Fassa Bortolo), recently winner of the nth Italian title of her career. Luperini has also scored record of Giro victories with her four overall wins of the race.

A rich field of foreign riders will be up against her: Some of the other favourites include Swiss Nicole Brändli (Bigla Cycling Team), Lithuanian Edita Pucinskaite (Nobili Rubinetterie) and German World champion Regina Schleicher (Nürnberger Versicherung). Russian Svetlana Bubnenkova (Colnago-Felix) is uncertain to race as she fell hard during the road race of the national championships in her country. While she was flown back to Italy on Wednesday to undergo further medical examination, her condition at the moment is not known.