00:03Welcome to flash highlights of the 37th edition of the Giro d'Italia Women.
00:08New name, new place in the calendar, overlapping with the men's Giro d'Italia, of course.
00:13And a big refresh for the OG, the dominant women's professional bike race for the last 37 editions.
00:21And this looks like being an absolute classic.
00:24We start with the most southerly of the nine stages spread across nine days in Emilia-Romagna with a very
00:31likely sprint stage.
00:33And an opportunity, of course, for the winner to take the Malia Rosa.
00:38Glorious conditions as it has been for the finishing week or so of the men's Giro d'Italia, of course.
00:44The women benefiting from, again, glorious, warm, sunny conditions this late May.
00:50Official start was given and we were underway.
00:53An opportunity to get into a first-day breakaway, but before we could even do that, two crashes.
00:58One in the neutral zone, one very soon after.
01:01And the early news reaching us, sad news, in fact, particularly for British fans,
01:05was that Cat Ferguson was out of the race as a result of that crash, too.
01:09We had three riders who got themselves into a lead.
01:13Sofia Arricci of Vini Fantini B-Pink, Sharon Spimi of Top Girls Fasa Bortolo,
01:18and Valeria Kurnis of Isomac Premac Vittoria.
01:23Three Italian riders, all from Italian continental teams, so third division teams, and working hard to stay clear.
01:31They actually had, at one point, over four minutes of lead.
01:34But as they came towards the intermediate sprint for the Malia Rosa points and the bonus seconds,
01:41at Alphacini, it was down to 1.25.
01:44It was Sofia Arricci who took that, by the way.
01:47And in the end, Sharon Spimi was the last rider to be caught just before we came onto the finishing
01:54circuit.
01:54So they had, effectively, three and a half laps anti-clockwise, a 13.5km circuit to do.
02:01And as soon as they entered the finishing circuit, as they did there, crossing the finish line with two laps
02:05to go,
02:06it felt very much like a big criterium.
02:09And, of course, that was swinging very much in the favour of the sprinters.
02:12And that's really the way it was dominated as well.
02:15Phoenix Premier Tech on the right trying to get Charlotte to cool into good position.
02:19But, all the while, Estiworks Pro Time, of course, had the best sprinter in the world, of course,
02:26in Lorena Vibis, in prime position at the front.
02:29There were some riders' distance off the back because there were quite a few crashes today.
02:32This one on the last lap involved Nina Berton and Aguirreo Milaki.
02:39Thankfully, though, after that point, the passage into the sprint zone was clear.
02:45Estiworks Pro Time appeared to have started their lead out a little bit early
02:48to it was Millie Cousins, then the British champion, who took over.
02:51Before, coming off the final right-hand, Ben, Millie Cousins continued,
02:55hoping to see Charlotte to cool back on her wheel, but she wasn't.
02:58It was Lorena Vibis, the Dutch champion.
03:00Vibis starting her sprint.
03:01Elisa Balsamo seeing if she can go with her.
03:03Lara Gillespie, the Irish champion, was there too.
03:05But this front shot doesn't tell you how dominant this was.
03:08This was Lorena Vibis riding away from everyone,
03:11gapping them in the sprint, as she's done on so many occasions,
03:14and taking her 127th pro win.
03:18Not a surprise win, but a dominant one that had to be worked for
03:21by her team in difficult circumstances today with nervous riders on stage one
03:27of this year's Giro d'Italia women.
03:30And there we have the winner, as I say, 127th pro win for Lorena Vibis,
03:34and she will be in the Malia Rosa, of course, tomorrow.
03:39That is how you start a stage race.
03:43And we're going to show you now the result too.
03:45The top 10 on the day, Lorena Vibis, the best sprinter in the world,
03:50the most dominant sprinter in the world, ahead of Elisa Balsamo,
03:53Irish champion Lara Gillespie, and Chiara Consoni,
03:57also reminding us just how quick she is.
03:59But there she was, the Dutch champion.
04:01Last time she'll be wearing that jersey for at least the next day or so,
04:04because we have an opportunity for another sprint tomorrow, potentially.
04:06And bonus seconds on the line, give her that four-second lead
04:10over Elisa Balsamo and Lara Gillespie.
04:13What can they do to beat Lorena Vibis tomorrow,
04:15and in any of the sprints we have in this race?
04:18We shall see.
04:19It's certainly a question they've asked themselves on many occasions before.
04:25Lorena Vibis, of course, also leads the points classification
04:27for the Malia Rosa, the red jersey, as it is in the Giro d'Italia women.
04:35And tomorrow, of course, that will be worn by Elisa Balsamo,
04:39today's second-place finishing.
04:41Best young rider was Celia Geri, the French woman,
04:44who had a good sprint on day one.
04:46Join us tomorrow.
04:46It could be another one, but let's see if it's going to be
04:50all around Lorena Vibis.
04:51We shall see.
04:52Join us tomorrow for highlights of stage two.
04:56The queen of the sprint, Lorena Vibis.
04:58How it feels to win the first stage of the Giro,
05:01and also you will wear the Malia Rosa now.
05:05Yeah, I mean, it is amazing,
05:06and the team worked really hard for it all day
05:09to control the breakaway,
05:10and it was a lot of chaos on the local circuit,
05:13what we expected,
05:14but I could wrestle my teammates,
05:16and also my final leader, Barbara Kwariski,
05:19she came a bit too early,
05:20but I found my way and I was able to sprint,
05:22and that was the most important of the day.
05:24A lot of teams from the Movistar 2A wanted this stage.
05:29What made the difference in the work of SDWorks?
05:32I think we did the most work before entering the circuit,
05:37and then I think it was also the GC teams
05:40who want to keep the GC leader safe for any crashes,
05:44but we focused mainly on the last lap to stick together
05:47and time it really well to the finish.
05:51Now, you will wear Malia Rosa.
05:53I think the goal for tomorrow was, of course,
05:55to keep the Malia Rosa.
05:56Could we expect another sprint?
05:58Yes, hopefully it's another sprint,
06:01and then it will be amazing to try to win in the Malia Rosa.
06:06Grazie, Lorena. Congratulations.
06:07Grazie.
06:07Celia, in white, what are the emotions?
06:12I'm quite happy because I didn't really expect to do it today.
06:21But at the end, I smile a little bit by surprise.
06:25But it's always fun.
06:27A great start of the season for you this spring.
06:30How much is it important to keep that confidence to face the Giro?
06:34Well, yes, my first part of the season,
06:39it's been really well.
06:44After, I wasn't really prepared for this Giro,
06:46but at the end, I'm there.
06:49And that will help me for the rest of the season.
06:54And so, it's cool to start like that too.
06:57And now, the goal, for sure, I think,
07:00is to keep that white jersey on.
07:02No, not necessarily.
07:05The goal is to win the Giro with Demi.
07:10So, today, during all the stages,
07:13we've tried to stay in security,
07:15especially on the circuit circuit at the end.
07:18And then, on the final, for the sprint,
07:21I managed to be able to try to take the best routes
07:24at the end and do my sprint at the end.
07:27But, the goal, it's not necessarily to keep the black jersey, no.
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