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Giro d’Italia Women 2024: Route, how to watch, start list and everything you need to know
The Giro d’Italia Women, formerly the Giro Donne and Giro Rosa, is the longest-running stage race in women’s cycling, though this year’s race is the first since RCS Sport, who run the men’s Giro, took over organisation.
The 2024 edition starts on Sunday 7th July in Brescia and finishes on Sunday 14th July in L’Aquila, with a reduced number of stages from nine in 2023 to eight this year. It begins with an individual time-trial and finishes with two mountain stages, including a summit finish on Blockhaus on Stage 7.
The 2023 race was won by Movistar‘s Annemiek van Vleuten in her final year of racing by 3min 57sec over Juliette Labous of DSM-Firmenich, with Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) completing the podium. Labous and Realini are back for this year, along with Realini’s teammate Elisa Longo Borghini and world champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime).
Giro d’Italia Women: Key information
- Dates: 7th-14th July 2024
- Start: Brescia, Lombardy
- Finish: L’Aquila, Abruzzo
- UK television coverage: Eurosport, Discovery+
- 2023 winner: Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar)
- Most wins: Fabiana Luperini (five)
Giro d’Italia Women 2024: Stage-by-stage preview
The 2024 Giro d’Italia Women has been reduced in length to eight stages. It departs from Brescia with an individual time-trial as usual and heads south through Italy. There’s only one flat stage with the majority of days being classed as hilly or mountainous.
Stage 1: Sunday 7th July, Brescia – Brescia, 15.7km, ITT
The opening stage is a flat 15.7km trip around Brescia. Last year’s Stage 1 ITT was called off due to torrential rain and thunderstorms.
Stage 2: Monday 8th July, Sirmione – Volta Mantovana, 110km
Stage 2 should be one for the sprinters. Organisers have put the Category 4 Cavriana just 10km from the finish but it shouldn’t pose a challenge, although if anyone desperately needed a point to break away…
Stage 3: Tuesday 9th July, Sabbioneta – Toano, 113km
Now this looks interesting. The first summit finish of the race comes on Stage 3, with a 12.5km climb to Toano, which has a 4.9% average gradient but hits a maximum of 12% in the final kilometre.
Stage 4: Wednesday 10th July, Imola – Urbino, 134km
Halfway through the race and halfway through the stage riders will climb into San Marino with a 5.5km ascent that has gradients up to 15%.
Stage 5: Thursday 11th July, Frontone – Foligno, 108km
There’s only one climb on Stage 5 and it comes early on, so it should be fairly straightforward. This day will take them from Frontone to Foligno with a classic sprint point in the middle of the stage.
Stage 6: Friday 12th July, San Benedetto del Tronto – Chieti, 159km
Stage 6 is not only the longest day of racing at the Giro d’Italia Women, but also one of the longest stages the peloton has seen at all recently. It falls just one kilometre short of the UCI’s maximum kilometre limit for a women’s stage (160km) and it’s very undulating with a tough climb that plateaus from 3km to go.
Stage 7: Saturday 13th July, Lanciano – Blockhaus, 120km
Here. We. Go. Get those climbing legs on. Two huge climbs are on the menu for Stage 7, with the gargantuan Blockhaus the summit finish.
Stage 8: Sunday 14th July, Pescara – L’Aquila, 117km
The grand finale of the Giro d’Italia Women is fierce with the climbing almost non-stop until the summit of the Category 1 Castel del Monte, halfway through the stage. There’s a lot of descending from there to the finish but it’s uphill to the line.
Who will win the maglia rosa?
Giro d’Italia Women 2024: How to watch
The 2024 Giro d’Italia Women will be available to watch on TV with Eurosport and streaming with Discovery+ for £6.99 per month with the basic package, which includes cycling and all other Eurosport programmes. In North America FloBikes will be streaming the race.
If it’s not being shown in your country, you may be able to watch coverage using a VPN – Virtual Private Network – which allows users to mask their IP address and watch geo-blocked content, provided they don’t need to pay for a subscription. This is also helpful for watching paid-for coverage while abroad in countries without access.
One such example is ExpressVPN, which is very well reviewed, helps users to find a way to watch cycling without having to pay for broadcasters services, and costs from £5.36 per month, with three months free. Other options include NordVPN, Surfshark and Kapersky.
Giro d’Italia Women 2024: Start list
Data powered by FirstCycling.com
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