The Giro d’Italia Women, second Grand Tour on the Women’s World Tour calendar, will start on Saturday with just under twenty riders, members of MPCC on their own, and seven teams which committed to our movement. The invitation process for the race also provides an opportunity to reflect on race organisers’ commitment to the fight against doping.
With the stage race season in full swing since the Vuelta Femenina, which took place in early May, the women’s peloton is already heading towards the second of the three Grand Tours of the women’s season, the Giro d’Italia. Held in the wake of its men’s counterpart, which concludes on Sunday in Rome, the Giro Women returns to its nine-day format, after having been shortened to eight stages in 2024 and 2025. The complete route stretches over 1,177.7 kilometres, making it the longest edition of the race in 25 years.
The Giro d’Italia Women will feature, much like the Angliru in the Vuelta Femenina, its showpiece climb : the Colle delle Finestre, a modern giant, which will be the key climb on the penultimate stage. Starting from Cesenatico, the peloton will include 17 riders who are individual members of our movement, representing 11 of the 21 participating teams. Among these riders are two of the world’s best sprinters : Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx – Protime) and Charlotte Kool (Fenix – PremierTech).
However, only 7 of the 21 teams in this Giro d’Italia are members of the MPCC, whilst all the Pro Team-level squads – the world’s second tier – have joined us in the fight for credible cycling. We therefore hope that, in the future, the race organiser, RCS Sport, will take the initiative to grant wild-cards only for MPCC member teams, as a sign of a strong commitment to credible cycling. This is a position already held by ASO, organiser of the Tour de France. We therefore strongly enthrust RCS Sport to join us, and commit to a cleaner sport. This is the responsibility of everyone involved in our sport, from riders to sponsors and race organisers.
The MPCC is also open to other teams, whether World Teams or Continental teams, to join us in supporting the rapid growth of women’s cycling – a growth that must never overlook the issue of doping.