Liv AlUla Jayco heads to the three-day Itzulia Women with a plethora of cards to play including Spanish champion Mavi García, New Zealand champion Ella Wyllie, and Norwegian pocket rocket Ingvild Gåskjenn.
Wyllie and García will share the team leadership as they both target a strong result in the overall classification. Meanwhile, Gåskjenn will be looking to build on a superb spring campaign and hunting stage wins.
There are climbs galore across the three days of racing in the Basque Country. Starting in Vitoria-Gasteiz on 10 May, the race will conclude with the queen stage, featuring the iconic Jaizkibel ascent, around San Sebastian on 12 May.
Joining Wyllie, García, and Gåskjenn this week will be a trio of strong riders in Caroline Andersson, Urška Žigart, and Amber Pate.
Liv AlUla Jayco line-up:
Caroline Andersson (SWE)
Mavi García (SPA)
Ingvild Gåskjenn (NOR)
Amber Pate (AUS)
Ella Wyllie (NZL)
Urška Žigart (SLO)
Ella Wyllie:
“I’m looking forward to being back racing at Itzulia with Ingvild, Mavi and Caroline who have just finished the Vuelta and Urška and Amber fresh from good training. It’s a beautiful part of Spain to be racing in and we’ll be expecting aggressive racing. The first two stages are different than last year and will make things interesting but it’s also nice to see the Jaizkibel climb on the final stage included too.”
Shawn Clarke (Sport Director):
“It should be a great race. We’ve got a really strong team, and all of our best climbers are coming to this race so we’re feeling really confident coming into it. While it is a race for the climbers, there are no mountain top finishes so we will have to be adaptable and we plan to race really hard. We’re coming in with Mavi and Ella as co-leaders for the GC, but we’ve seen in the Ardennes and the Vuelta Femenina that Ingvild is climbing really well, and she’s one of the quickest finishers at the moment. We believe we have some great options for GC, and some pretty good options for the finish if Ingvild is able to get there.”
Photo: Sprint Cycling
