How to Watch the 2023 Giro Donne—the Women’s Giro D’Italia
The 2023 Giro Donne—AKA the Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile or the women’s Giro d’Italia—is coming up quick. This long-standing women’s stage race is now in its 34th year, and it’s one of the most exciting stage races to watch, especially now that it also serves as a precursor to the Tour de France Femmes a few weeks later.
Here’s everything you need to know to watch the 10-day, 9-stage race starting with the short-and-sweet prologue on June 30, 2023.
What are the 2023 Giro Donne stages?
The nine stages will cover 928 kilometers and five regions of Italy. Riders get one rest day after stage 6, before the final two stages.
Stage 1: Prologue in Chianciano, 4.4KM individual time trial
Stage 2: Bagno a Ripoli to Marradi, 102KM
Stage 3: Formigine to Modena, 118KM
Stage 4: Fidenza to Borgo Val di Toro, 134KM
Stage 5: Salassa to Ceres, 103KM
Stage 6: Canelli to Canelli, 104KM
Stage 7: Albenga to Alassio, 109KM
Rest day
Stage 8: Nuoro to Sassari, 125KM
Stage 9: Sassari to Olbia, 129KM
Who’s racing in the Giro Donne?
All the usual suspects in terms of the big teams will be there, but start lists for most of the teams are still sparse as each team decides on their final rosters. Reigning champion Annemiek Van Vleuten is already on the roster, though, and of course, is the heavy favorite for the win. No other heavy hitters have been placed on the start list yet, but we’ll update this post as more are announced.
Is there any drama?
Surely organizers are looking nervously at COVID protocols after the Giro d’Italia lost many riders to the virus just a couple of weeks ago, including one of the favorites to win. So we’ll see if there are more stringent protocols in place to avoid the same situation happening with the women.
New owners of the race next year
There’s also about to be a shift in ownership of the race. This year, many people are watching and wondering what the race will look like in 2024, once RCS (the same organizers of the men’s Giro d’Italia) take over. Fingers crossed that the race continues to improve, especially in terms of coverage as last year was spotty in some stages. But because this is the last year these organizers will be in charge, there are questions around the quality of this event in terms of coverage. Already, the route announcement was late (and the route is shortened this year). The unveiling was lackluster—hopefully the racing will be anything but.
How to Watch the 2023 Giro Donne
In the US, the spot to watch is GCN+, where two hours of coverage will be shown each day. Luckily, GCN+ is relatively inexpensive compared to most streaming services ($49.99/year!) and with the amount of stellar coverage they provide, it’s worth the spend.
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