After three stages of the same winner and no real GC action, the Giro d'Italia Women is set to ramp up a gear on Tuesday with the stage 4 mountain time trial guaranteed to shake up the overall standings.
Starting in Belluno and finishing atop the climb to Nevegal, the TT is only 12.7km long but is going to feel a lot longer with average 8.2% gradients – but ramps much higher – on the 7.4km climb.
Coming out of the start ramp in Belluno, the first 1.5km of the effort will actually be slightly downhill, then it's 3.5km of flat before the road quickly rises up for the climb. The first section is the hardest, with an average of 10.3% for the first 5km of the ascent and sections that hit a gruelling 14%.
Things level out slightly at the top, with the penultimate kilometre almost flat at 1.9%, and then there's one final kick up to the line where the riders will finish their efforts at 1,047m of altitude, climbing up 660m in just over 7km of climbing.
The profile of stage 4 (Image credit: RCS Sport)
With such an all-out climbing effort on the cards, and no suggestion of drafting or timing accelerations, the TT will be question of pacing, with riders having to make sure they don't hit the steep first kilometres too hard and burn out with still lots of climbing still to go. The false-flat near the top could also be dangerous and lure riders into thinking the effort is over – it's not.
But as well as the pacing strategy, a big question about stage 4 will be equipment, and whether riders chose a TT bike or road bike, or even swap at the bottom of the climb. At the moment, signs are pointing towards riders opting for road bikes, with the weight savings for the second half almost certainly outweighing any aero or power gains for the first half, but there are always riders who buck the trend.
With the TT relatively short, changing bikes would almost certainly see riders lose more time than they gain, but we will have to see on Tuesday if anyone opts for that.
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Coming on stage 4 and with so much climbing still to come, this TT is not going to decide the Giro d'Italia, but it is absolutely going to give us the first clear indication of who is in good shape this week, and who is not.
Combining flat and climbing as it does, the TT looks tailor-made for the GC all-rounders, the climbers who are good time trialists. The lightweight pure climbers might take on the climb quickest, but will lose time on the flat opening, whilst the TT specialists will be encumbered by the length and difficulty of the climb, and likely the absence of TT bikes.
The two big favourites for the stage victory and therefore GC gains are probably TT world champion Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez). Both are the perfect mix of time trialist and climber, and also both are chasing the pink jersey, so will be motivated to make gains here.
Reusser became world champion on a hilly course in Kigali (Image credit: Getty Images)
Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), who joined Reusser and Vollering on the podium of the climb-heavy TT at the World Championships, could also be a threat here and is one of the best climbers in the field who also has a very good TT.
It may be a challenging day for Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), who is absolutely good against the clock, but maybe a touch below the climbing level of her rivals, and looks open to having her vulnerabilities exploited on stage 4.
For an outside name, Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) should be a serious rider to watch, a light climber who also has a good TT, winning a similar uphill effort in the Tour de l'Avenir Femmes last year. Viktória Chladoňová (Visma-Lease a Bike) is a similarly interesting outside pick, and Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) is another GC rider with a better-than-average TT ability.
For other GC contenders, those who lean more on their climbing than their time trialling, they will be happier with Tuesday's parcours than a flat TT, where riders like Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) would lose more time. On the climb, they should be able to limit their losses, with the time gaps on stage 4 expected to be meaningful, but not race-ending for anyone, as long as riders can avoid a full blow-up.
Finally, for pink jersey Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), stage 4 is likely to be her final day in pink. Though she has a buffer of 30 seconds, that's probably not going to be enough to hold off the GC riders on such a challenging TT, so the maglia rosa will almost certainly be on new shoulders on Tuesday evening. The only question is whose.
Matilda is an NCTJ-qualified journalist based in the UK who joined Cyclingnews in March 2025. Prior to that, she worked as the Racing News Editor at GCN, and extensively as a freelancer contributing to Cyclingnews, Cycling Weekly, Velo, Rouleur, Escape Collective, Red Bull and more. She has reported on the ground at all of the biggest events on the calendar, including the men's and women's Tours de France, the Giro d'Italia, the Vuelta a Espana, the Spring Classics and the World Championships. She has particular experience and expertise in women's cycling, and women's sport in general. She is a graduate of modern languages and sports journalism.
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