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Giro Donne 2005

1^st July - 10^th July

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Race News - 30 June 2005

The 16th Giro Donne - or the 'Women's Giro' - the Women's Tour of Italy begins on Friday evening with a 1.7km prologue time trial. 

The 2005 edition is a 10 stage race - the prologue followed by 9 stages. There will be an individual time trial on stage 7, which takes the form of a mountain time trial of 13km. 

Big news this week, though, is that the defending Champion's team has pulled out of the race due to diffrerences between Team Safi's manager and the Italian Federation. Such a move means that the Giro Donne will obviously be open to a new champion, but stage finishes might also be open to a few more riders too; Rochelle Gilmore, the Australian who also rides for Team Safi is also a non-starter. Gilmore, who started the year with emphatic victories on the track and in the first Road World Cup event, has won 2 stages in the past and was looking forward to this, one of her "target" races for 2005.

Such a withdrawal leaves the race wide open for the other competitors. The line-up includes Euroepan teams, Buitenpoort-Flexpoint from the Netherlands, Team SATS, from Denmark, two National teams - the Australians and the Americans and several Italian-based pro teams, as would be expected. The Italian teams are Nobili Rubinetterie and Team Bianchi, as well as Team Lazio, which contains newy crowned Italian road champion, Silvia Parretti.

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