GIRO D'ITALIA INTERNAZIONALE FEMMINILE (2.1)
Next on the program for Team Liv-Plantur is the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile, starting this Friday with a 2km prologue in the city of Ljubljana (SLO). The Italian race features nine stages on a mix of flat roads and rolling roads but also includes mountain stages, with distances ranging from 92.7km to 128.4km and one individual time trial of 21.7km.
It will be Team Liv-Plantur’s second participation in this race and the team can look back at a 6th place in the GC last year with Claudia Lichtenberg (GER), who won the Italian 'Grand Tour' for women in 2009. With her second place at the German Road Race Championships, Lichtenberg has shown she has come into good form on time and will be aiming for a good result once again. Alongside the German, the climbers Sabrina Stultiens (NED) and Molly Weaver (GBR) will be looking for their opportunities in the mountain stages.
With a second place at the British Time Trial Nationals and a fourth at the Road Race, Weaver seems to be on form at the moment. The same goes for Swede Sara Mustonen-Lichan, who took two silver medals at her country’s championships. With Floortje Mackaij (NED), Team Liv-Plantur has options to go for a stage victory. The roster is completed by reliable support riders Willeke Knol (NED), Julia Soek (NED) and Kyara Stijns (NED).
“With Lichtenberg and Stultiens we have two women who belong to the best climbers in the peloton. However, Stultiens is recovering from sickness and Lichtenberg is just returned from a long period of injury absence, but her second place at the German Nationals do give confidence. But we will have to await to extend they are ready to compete for a nice GC result,” said coach Hans Timmermans (NED).
"With Mackaij, Stijns and Weaver we have three debutants. For them it will be their first experience in the Giro Rosa, which will become a nice adventure for their development at their age. For Mustonen-Lichan we must find a balance between her supporting role and going for her chance in the sprints. We will reconsider this day-by-day.”
