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We have three riders at the front, Valeria Curnis (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria), Sharon Spimi (Top Girls Fassa bortolo) and Sofia Arici (Vini Fantini-BePink) lead the peloton by one minute, with Ilaria Marinetto (Mendelspeck-E Work) in the gap.
The peloton will only climb 250m all day and there are no classified climbs, so no blue jersey, maglia Azzura will be awarded today.
We have attacks at the front of the race.
They’re riding through a flat area, but there’s little in the way of wind blowing to affect the race.
It’s a pretty calm start in Cesenatico, with no successful attacks just yet.
The start town of Cesenatico is on the Adriatic coast in the region of Emilia-Romagna and only around 20km south of the finish in Ravenna. It is also the birth place of one of Italy’s most fabled cycling sons, Marco Pantani.
The course takes the riders inland and northwest, they turn right for an intermediate sprint at Alfonosine before heading south to Ravenna for three laps of a tight, technical city circuit of 13.2km.
We’re rolling for 3.8km of neutral before the racing starts. It’s a warm one in Cesenatico, around 28º but with the chance of thunder storms later. Let’s hope not!
Lorena Wiebes starts the day as the outstanding favourite to win the stage and take the first maglia rosa. She’s on top form, winning stages at the recent Vuelta Burgos where she honed her form ahead of today’s race.
Just five minutes until we roll out for the start of the Giro.
Demi Vollering starts the race as the out and out favourite to win the general classification.
But Grand Tour domination has rarely come naturally to her.
Should today’s stage come down to a sprint finish, Lidl-Trek have one of the favourites in Elisa Balsamo. The…
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