28 May 2021

Giro Baby arrives: the world’s best U23 cyclists compete in ten intense stages

Giro d´Italia U23
From 3 to 12 June

One Giro d’Italia comes to an end, but almost immediately another one arrives. It’s the turn of the Giro d’Italia U23, the Giro Baby, one of the most demanding stage races of the category that has taken on a new lease of life since its revival in 2017. Intense routes for many teams with few participants that leave the race in a sequence of alternatives and multiple aspirations. And all this while remaining a tough race. In 2020, where the race was saved from definitive suspension, British rider Tom Pidcock swept the board. And for the current EOLO-KOMETA it was a special race because of the victory in the first stage, and consequently the first maglia rosa, of the now professional Alejandro Ropero.

Italian Davide Piganzoli and Spaniards Joan Martí Bennassar, Vicente Hernaiz, Álex Martín and Fernando Tercero make up the quintet with which the Foundation’s U23 rider will take part under the orders of sport director Rafa Díaz Justo.

“I’m really looking forward to racing this Giro”, admits Joan Martí Bennassar, the most veteran rider in the team, from his training camp in La Granja de San Ildefonso. “I think I’m assimilating the work of this training camp very well and I’m going to arrive very well. I’ve never been here before and the truth is that I’m enjoying it even more. A lot of work on these mountain passes. I know that the Giro is a race where I have to be active every day and I have to give my best. I’m going to enjoy racing against the best of the best, and that’s certainly an extra motivation”.

The rider from Marratxí, a great lover of the speciality against the clock, has in the Corsa Rosa a time trial of more than 25 km. “We all know the level of the race. I just want to arrive empty at the finish line. I don’t want to think or focus on any result, just give my best. That’s all I want to do”, he adds.

Vicente Hernaiz, from Valladolid, is also looking forward to his participation: “I think that this year’s Giro is very balanced in terms of the route. There are quite a lot of medium mountains in several stages that could be good for me. The time trial is long, for specialists; and without having references in these races I don’t know very well what to expect. And then a very long climb to Campo di Moro. Those will be the key moments of this edition”.

“I’m very motivated for this Giro”, says Italian Davide Piganzoli. The Lombard, in his first year in the category, faces the Giro after good performances both in the Spanish Cup elite and U23 and in the Giro di Romagna per Dante Alighieri. “I’ve been working very hard these weeks and I think I’m in good shape. We are going with a really strong team”.

The stages.
3rd June: Cesenatico – Riccione (144.5 km).

4th June: Riccione – Imola (138.3 km).