Miffy Galloway’s Giro Donne Diary – Giro Preview

By Miffy Galloway (Twitter ? @MiffyG) Driving through the chaotic city center in Napoli, I am definitely feeling Worlds away from the calm and peaceful surroundings of my home in Bellano. I boarded the train at just after 6am this morning and have successfully made the pilgrimage along with some of the best female cyclists in the World to the biggest race on the Women’s international calendar – the Giro Donne. We have again only narrowly missed another helmet-less moped driver as we swerve in and out of traffic. Lane markings acting merely as suggestions. Little did we know as the team directors punished their vehicles on the cobbled streets that the race had already started, with pride and honor of being the first team car to and from the team presentation on the line. It was touch and go there for a while and even after making a few costly detours, we finished comfortably in the main bunch and are confident that we have enough in the tank to take the match the the streets tomorrow. This will be the 2nd time I will front up to the start line at the Giro after having been fortunate enough to be chosen to ride as part of the Australian National team at 19 years of age in 2009. Whilst I have definitely matured physically and mentally over the past 3 years, you still cannot prepare yourself enough for what lies ahead in a 9 day stage race. As a domestique, pain is inevitable. My job is to suffer so that my team leaders don’t. You treat each day as a one day race and give 100% out on the road. Some days I will give 100% effort to position the leaders on a climb, other days I may be giving 100% simply to make it to the stage’s end within the time limit. You have good days and bad days but that is what makes tour racing that much more exciting. It rewards not only the strongest riders, but those who are courageous and mentally tough. My team, the Italian based Faren Honda UCI team, identified the Giro as one of their major target races and have built a team capable of performing on the varied terrain which we will cover in the 2012 edition. 5 time Giro winner Fabiana Luperini will be looking to make her mark in the climbs, Rochelle Gilmore will be representing us in the sprints and the aggressive riding style of Olympic champion Nicole Cooke will ensure that we represented on the general classification. As for me, I’ve had about as much luck as Andy Schleck this year. Whilst I am coming in to the tour in less then ideal form, it is reassuring that despite everything that I have faced since the beginning of the year my team still trusts me and has faith in my ability. I’ll just be taking it one day at a time and support my team as much as I can. If I make it to Bergamo on the 7th on June, that will be one hell of a bonus. The show kicks off tomorrow with a lazy 139km. One of the rare flat stages in the tour so my bet is the sprinters will be keen to have a play in this one!! Until tomorrows, wish me luck! Miffy