Organizers of the Giro d'Italia International Women's Race have announced that the nine-day race will begin with a team time trial in Grosseto, Tuscany. The race was originally scheduled to run from June 26 to July 5, but was moved to September 11-19 as part of the revised post-COVID-19 Women's World Tour calendar.

"We are already accustomed to great sporting events," Grosseto Mayor Anton Francesco Vivarelli Colonna said in a press release. 'Over the past few years, our city has become a reference point for national and international events. After track and field and baseball, now it is the turn of cycling: the first pink jerseys of the 2020 Giro Rosa U.C.I. Women's World Tour will be assigned this year in this beautiful grosseto.

"To achieve great satisfaction, the municipal administration, along with the organizers, will have to make a considerable logistical commitment, and we are already committed, involving many departments. I thank my sports councillor Fabrizio Rossi for coordinating the work of the municipality"

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The Giro Rosa has opened the past three times with team time trials in Aquileia (2017), Verbania (2018), and Cassano Spinola (2019). This year's opening stage in Grosseto will feature a flat 16km team time trial, giving the teams the opportunity to present the first leader's jersey that will set the tone for the nine days of racing.

The first team starts at 14:00 local time from Piazza Dante Alighieri, followed by the other teams at 3-minute intervals. The roads are wide, with long straights, but only a few roundabouts and gentle corners. Organizers expect an average speed of 50 km/h when the teams finish on Via Aurelia Antica (CONAD).

"There are high expectations for this sporting event. With the Sports Agency at the forefront, the organizational machine is already in motion to organize one of the most important events on the national cycling scene"

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"We will have athletes, staff, and organizers in the city to handle the competition aspect as well as the community reception and promotion. The key is teamwork, a model that has been reinforced in past competitions and will be repeated in the future."

Current road race world champion Annemiek van Fruten (Mitchelton-Scott), winner of the 2018 and 2019 Giro Rosa, will be in Switzerland from September 20-27 for the UCI Road World Championships, looking for her third consecutive win in September. He is expected to return.

Also likely to participate in this year's event are top riders from around the world, including former winners Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans), Cecily Uttrup-Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), Amanda Spratt ( Mitchelton Scott), Lucinda Brand (Trek Segafredo), Ashley Moolman Pasio, and CCC-Liv teammate Marianne Vos, who won four stages last year.

Organizers have not yet announced the other stages of the official route for the 31st Giro Rosa, but it will take place in south-central Italy. Race director Giuseppi Rivolta confirmed that 24 teams have been invited to the race and assured that the event will take place under the strict protocol of COVID-19.

"After endless video conferences, sleepless nights, and endless hours studying the health protocols of the UCI, the Italian Cycling Federation, the Italian government, and the region, I am proud to represent a cycling event that has captured the attention of the entire world with renewed determination and unchanged enthusiasm! said Rivolta.

"I want to say thank you so much to my valuable sponsors, technical and commercial partners, local and national institutions, and my valuable collaborators who have chosen to support the Giro Rosa during this difficult time."