Home > Rides+Events

How to watch the 2021 Giro Rosa in Canada

The Giro d'Italia Donne kicks off this weekend

June 30, 2021
Share on SMS

The 2021 Giro d’Italia Donne (commonly known as the Giro Rosa) will kick off its 32nd edition on July 2, 2021. The race is the longest-running event on the pro women’s calendar and covers 1,022.74 kilometres across northern Italy.

Riders from 24 teams will compete in ten stages, from July 2 to July 11 in the UCI Women’s ProSeries event, which will be broadcasted on race organizer PMG Sport’s channels, which include its website, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and the Giro d’Italia Donne’s official website.

Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team) will return to defend her 2020 win, along with other contenders such as Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-Sram), Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma), Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange) and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Team SD Worx).

Canadians can look out for Sara Poidevin, competing with Rally and Leah Kirchmann racing for Team DSM.

RELATED: Taking on your first big climb: Tips from a pro cyclist

Less coverage

The 2020 edition of the Giro Rosa was pushed to last September due to the pandemic. At the event, the race organizer failed to provide the minimum 45 minutes of live television coverage required for all top-tier Women’s WorldTour races, which sparked the UCI to demote the race from Women’s WorldTour status to Women’s ProSeries.

With new management, race organizers PMG Sport say they are seeking to adhere to the UCI’s requirements in order to return the race to the UCI Women’s World Tour in 2022, but in 2021, only the last 15km of each stage will be broadcasted, a choice Trek–Segafredo cyclist Chloe Hosking says is not up-to-date.

“The other day I was criticized for not ‘respecting’ the Giro Rosa,” Tweeted the Australian national champion. “I said that the Giro isn’t comparable to La Course or what the Tour de France Femmes will be. If you fail to keep pace and adapt to the changing environment how do you expect to stay relevant, and for that matter, important?”