This Friday starts at the Tuscanyin Grossetoa new edition of the Giro Rosa, the women's version of the Giro d'Italiain a slow, but so far safe, awakening of cycling from that nightmare called Covid19 that has stopped, if not cancelled or delayed everything.
After celebrating two monuments in August, San Remo and Lombardyafter running the U23 Girothe best race of the campaign in the category, after resuming the Tirreno-Adriatico and look to the Giro d'Italia in the uncertain October, Italy's return to cycling means it wants to get back to its vital pulse, building on what has made the country universal and trying to carry on after the hard blow of the pandemic.
And at the starting line, the Cronos Casa Dorada will live this unique moment "among the best teams in the world, where we can only learn good things from how the best teams of the moment do it" says the team manager Iñigo Cuesta.
The former professional cyclist for so many years now arrives at the top of the women's cycling project that started for 2020. almost no time to compete before the break. An exceptional situation: "We kept good contact with the girls at a time when the management was not easy, everything stopped a month and a half after starting to ride, everything went down the drain, all the planning of the girls, the peaks of form, the calendars..." he tells us from the team. Giro delle Marche in pinkthe race before the women's Giro.
It was all very complicated," he continues. "Everything was left on standby, everyone was waiting for news that was slow in coming and not knowing, even today, when everything will be back to normal," says Íñigo Cuesta, who had to use his best psychology, forged in so many years at the highest level to keep the team motivated: "I talked to them about those periods that all professional athletes have, periods of rest or injury, in which you have to keep a positive mentality to try to move forward. An athlete, when he is out of competition, for whatever reason, wants to come back quickly, but that is not always possible". 
The Giro Rosa in the new normal
But those months are over, and the team got down to work, showing that "the girls have taken all the preparation and instructions we gave them very seriously. Just look at the results we've had after the return to competition, with Sandra Alonso's victories in the Euskaldun, the podiums in the Spanish Championships, even in the Italian Championship...".. 
"The girls have sacrificed themselves", says Íñigo Cuesta proudly on the eve of the Giro RosaIt's a race that means everything to us, and we're going to it with an enormous desire to learn. We will be next to the best, taking note of everything they do, trying to be better professionals. We are very aware of where we are going, but when you put on a bib, there are opportunities that you have to know how to look for".
The girls will be dressed in GobikThe girls will be dressed in a strategic moment for the brand, with a lot of interest in Italy: "There are no complaints, the treatment is direct and excellent, but it is also, the runners are delighted with this middle ground between design and performance that the brand achieves.. When they receive new clothes, they open them with care and appreciate their quality with use".
On Friday, as we say, the Giro Rosa in Grossetoa nine-stage round that will last until Saturday 19. A hilly course lies ahead with great symbols of the Italian boot, such as the the finishes in Assisi and Tivoli and a very mountainous finish with two summit finishes at San Marco La Catola and Motta Montecorvino.
Asja Paladin, Jasinska Malgorzata, Sandra Alonso, Rachel Neilan, Alessia Vigilia and Nadia Quagliotto form the first sextet in the history of Cronos Casa Dorada in the best race in the world.
Text: JoanSeguidor's notebook
Photos:Casa Dorada Women Cycling Team
Photos:Kom Cycling
