Team Jumbo-Visma on edge for Trofeo Alfredo Binda
On Sunday, 20 March, Team Jumbo-Visma will be at the start of the Trofeo Alfredo Binda in the Lombardy hills (Italy). Marianne Vos won the women's race four times. In 2017 her teammate Coryn Labecki won. The expectations for the riders in yellow-black are high, although they have to do without Vos this year.
Between 1922 and 1936, Alfredo Binda was the most successful cyclist Italy had ever known. He won the Giro five times and became world champion on the road three times. He was so successful that organisers asked Binda not to start as they wanted to keep the races exciting. In 1930, The star even received a premium of 22,500 lire to keep him from participating in that year’s Giro. Not surprisingly, a race has been named after Binda since 1974.
The Trofeo Alfredo Binda became part of the Women's World Tour in 2016. Marianne Vos won the race in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2019 and came second in 2021. In 2017 Coryn Labecki – who has been part of the team since this year – took the win.
Carmen Small, sports director of the women's team, also aims for victory this year.
“We had expected to be at the start with Marianne, but a cold got in the way. So we save Marianne for the following races. However, her absence does not affect our ambitions in Lombardy. We’ll go for the win. The girls know exactly what to do as a team to cross the finish line first”, Small said. “Every rider knows their job. If everyone performs that task, we have a good chance to be on the top step of the podium.”
"If every rider does their job, we have a good chance of winning"
The course will be the same as in 2021. The race will start in Cocquio Trevisago and end in Cittiglio. The route is 142 kilometres long and winds through the hills of Lombardy. The riders will repeat a 7 km loop through Olginasio and Besozzo at the start of the race, then climb the Caldana (1400m at 6.3% length) and Cunardo (4000m at 4.7%). The finish loop is eighteen kilometres long and has to be completed four times. This loop includes a climb to Orino (3400 meters at 4.1%).
“Coryn has experience in this race. Most of the team’s other riders have also ridden here at least once before. The course suits them well. The climbs are relatively short, but it is a tough race. In the Trofeo Alfredo Binda we can perfectly show what we have”, Small concludes.
Coryn Labecki will be supported by Karlijn Swinkels, Anna Henderson, Amber Kraak, Aafke Soet and Noemi Ruëgg. The starting gun will sound at 12.10 pm
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