Securing the future of the event after much recent uncertainty, the women’s Giro d’Italia has confirmed that Giuseppe Rivolta will organise the next four editions of the Giro Rosa, and that this year’s race will be eight days in length.
Rivolta, who was CEO of the Giro Donne from 2002 to 2005 and from 2007 to 2009, was also race director for the last three editions. He will have the title of organization president in 2013 and will work on the event with his new company Erre 4.
“I am excited to face this adventure. I would like to thank the Italian Cycling Federation that has given me his trust and is supporting our team a lot,” he said today.
“This year we are working for a great growth of the event which remains the most important stage race in women's cycling all over the world. I'm fixing the last route details, but I can anticipate that Giro Rosa will take place from the south to the north of Italy and will cross eight regions in eight days.”
Rivolta stated that he was confident that this year’s race would live up to full expectations.
One change will be the length of the race, which drops to eight as a result of an overlap with the Mediterranean Games. According to today’s announcement Rivolta, Italian cycling federation president Renato Di Rocco plus the women’s national coach Edoardo Salvoldi agreed to the reduction, with the aim of giving ‘the athletes the possibility to participate in both of these major international events.’
More details of the 2013 Giro Rosa will be announced in the near future, including the stages and the participants.
Marianne Vos won last year’s Giro Donne, beating Emma Pooley (AA Drink - Leontien.nl Cycling Team) by almost three and a half minutes and Evelyn Stevens (Team Specialized – lululemon) by three more.