Canada's Isabella Holmgren 'nervous but excited' as she steps into co-leadership role at Giro d'Italia Women after last year's breakthrough top 10

Lidl-Trek are already having a fantastic Giro d'Italia Women, wearing the pink jersey into stage 4 with three victories in three days for Elisa Balsamo, but they also have high hopes for the general classification with a pair of overall leaders.

Two years on from winning the Giro with Elisa Longo Borghini, Lidl-Trek are back to try and target the podium with former Giro stage winner Niamh Fisher-Black and last year's seventh-placed finisher Isabella Holmgren.

Despite still being only 21, and only just 20 when she raced her debut Giro last year, Holmgren was the team's best finisher in last year's race, going on to win the Tour de l'Avenir Femmes shortly after.

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Though she won't be the team's sole GC leader in Italy this week, Holmgren is balancing her ambitions between doing her best for the team, and knowing from last year that her potential is high.

"We have Niamh and I for the GC. This is my second time doing the race, so it's nice to sort of have a year of knowledge, but we also have some really experienced riders on the team, so I can just learn from them," Holmgren told Cyclingnews ahead of the start of the race.

"I think because I had a really good race here last year, I definitely want to have a good race again and do the best that I can, just also help the team in the best way possible. So I'm nervous in that sense, but also just excited."

Being the youngest member of the team and racing her first-ever Grand Tour last year, Holmgren's seventh came as something of a breakthrough result.

"I was definitely surprised because it was my first Grand Tour, but I think sometimes it's nice to go in without expectations and without knowing, because you just race, you don't think about it, so sometimes I enjoy that."

Though the expectations on Holmgren from the outside may now be higher than they were last summer, given what she's achieved since then, she was certainly isn't piling the pressure on herself this year.

"I think it's nice to not really have a ton of expectations in that sense and just see what I can do."

A two-pronged attack

With Holmgren and Fisher-Black, Lidl-Trek will be adopting the two-pronged approach that many teams opt for in their attempts to better favourites like Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) and Longo Borghini.

So far, Holmgren and Fisher-Black are both equal on time, but that could change in Tuesday's stage 4 time trial. But for now, the team are happy to let the road decide their leader.

"We sort of just have to see how the race plays out, because you never know, someone could crash or something could happen in the first days which means there's only one rider that we're riding for in the GC when it comes down to it. But I think the way Niamh and I can ride benefits each other, so I think it's just a decision we'll make in the moment," Holmgren said.

"We just have some really strong riders that are here to support, like Barzi and also Niamh and I in the mountains, so we're just lucky to have a super strong team and they're able to help in lots of different terrain so I think that's a big benefit."

The hope will be to keep both riders as high on GC as possible for as long as possible, and the team are currently in control of the race with Balsamo in pink, but with hard stages arriving quite early on in the race, the GC could start to shape up soon.

"Of course the TT because it's uphill, but I think the following stage is going to be really difficult," Holmgren said of which stages will be key for the overall. "There's a circuit that we do twice before the finish, and we did recon of it and the climbs are quite steep and hard and you always have to be on with the technical descents too, so I think that can definitely be a big GC day as well."

Stage 4's time trial, up the 7.4km climb to Nevegal, should suit the 21-year-old, who won an uphill TT on her way to winning the Tour de l'Avenir last summer, and is generally good against the clock.

"I think because it's not just an uphill, you have the descent at the start and a bit of flat that makes it a bit more complicated for equipment decisions and all of that," she said. "But I really enjoyed the uphill TT in l'Avenir last year, which was a bit different because it was just one uphill, but it was sort of a similar effort for that middle part, so I'm looking forward to it."

Only her fifth road race of the year so far, the Giro is Holmgren's big road goal this season, before a switch to the mountain bike in the summer, and a hopefully selection to race the Road World Championships at home in Canada in September.

With the Giro her first stage of 2026, Holmgren was hoping for a few days to get into the race, and though Balsamo's stint in pink has meant she and her team have had to be switched on from the start, there's still a confidence that the Canadian will be building into her best in Italy.

"It's intimidating a little bit because it's so long, but I remember from previous years, the longer the racing goes on, usually the better I feel."

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