CUNEO, Italy — Ruth Winder slipped into the leader’s pink jersey Friday after her Trek-Segafredo team won the opening team trial of the Giro d’Italia Donne, the most important stage race for female cyclists and a key effort ahead of the Olympic road race.
Winder, who has medal ambitions with the U.S. team heading to the Tokyo Games, was joined by Dutch rider Ellen van Dijk, Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy and Lizzie Deignan of Britain in powering her American squad across the finish line first.
They were followed 8 seconds later by the SD Worx squad that features reigning Olympic champion Anna van der Breggen, who is again the favorite to win gold in Tokyo. Van der Breggen is part of a trade team in Italy that includes Demi Vollering, her Olympic teammate on the powerful Dutch squad and the recent winner of La Course by Le Tour in France.
The second stage of the 10-day Giro across northern Italy takes riders nearly 100 kilometers on Saturday and includes several short, sharp climbs before a mountain-top finish at Prato Nevoso that should reveal the top overall contenders.
