Amanda Spratt looks forward to the Giro Donne 2022 – ‘It’s the most exciting route we’ve had in a number of years’

On the GCN Eurosport Cycling Show this week Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange — Jayco) tells us what we can expect from the upcoming Giro Donne. Since 1993, when the Tour de France feminin was discontinued, the race has been the only “Grand Tour” on the women’s calendar. This year, however, finally sees the return of a women’s edition of the biggest bike race in the world.

Ad/> It has inspired Giro organisers to up their game, improving the media presence of the race and delivering a course which Spratt describes as “the most exciting route that we’ve had in a number of years.” CyclingBlazin’ Saddles: The best riders and teams of the spring Classics – and biggest disappointments25/04/2022 AT 14:30 Spratt, who won a stage of the 2018 edition of the race and has twice finished on the podium, will once again be targeting “a nice GC placing. That’s really my goal.” As excited as the 34-year-old is to ride the Tour de France Femmes, the Giro Donne (formerly the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile) is undiminished in her eyes: “Everybody wants to win it and wear the maglia rosa,” says Spratt. “Everyone wants the privilege of wearing the maglia rosa.

I know what that feels like. It’s the one point in the season that everyone’s looking forward to and wants to be in the best form for.” The race begins with three stages on the island of Sardinia. First is a 4.8km prologue time trial, then two relatively flat days finishing in Tortoli and Olbia respectively.

Both ought to end in bunch sprints “but you never know with the wind there,” says Spratt. Crosswinds could cause havoc or, at the very least, prematurely drain the batteries of a few riders hoping to contend for the overall. The race then takes a travelling day as it heads to