UAE TEAM ADQ

The Giro Donne 2023 ended today in Olbia, Sardinia, with a final apotheosis for UAE Team ADQ.

The Giro Donne 2023 ended today in Olbia, Sardinia, with a final apotheosis for UAE Team ADQ: on the day of the celebrations for the last race of Marta Bastianelli's career came a beautiful sprint victory by Chiara Consonni in the ninth and final stage with arrival in Olbia.

The Italian sprinter, 24 years old, dominated the sprint leaving behind Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) and Ally Wollaston (AG Insurance - Soudal Quick-Step). A success that is a well-deserved reward for a great team effort in all nine stages.

Another very important result was that they were the only team to place two riders in the top 10 of the Corsa Rosa. In the general classification, Erica Magnaldi finished in fifth place and Silvia Persico in eighth place.

The Giro team was as follows: Marta Bastianelli, Silvia Persico, Erica Magnaldi, Chiara Consonni, Sofia Bertizzolo, Mikayla Harvey, Karolina Kumiega.

The Giro Donne had begun with the unfortunate first day of the Chianciano Terme ITT cancelled due to bad weather. Then in the following eight stages came a constant series of placings, in addition to the eighth place of the sprinter Chiara Consonni in Modena, it was Silvia Persico and Erica Magnaldi who offered a great consistency of performance, helping each other, fighting every day against the strongest opponents in the world. The whole team really did a great job, proving to be a united and quality group. At the end of a 10-day stage race, the extraordinary work of all the staff who supported the girls' performances day after day must also be emphasised.

July 9^th 2023, the day of the last stage of the Giro Donne, was also the day of the last race of the career of our champion Marta Bastianelli who, after an 18-year honourable career, decided to stop.

The Italian champion won 44 races and experienced first-hand all the evolution and growth of the women's cycling movement, becoming a source of inspiration for many young people and one of the first mothers in the peloton. Her three most important victories are undoubtedly: the Road World Championships won in Stuttgart in 2007 at only 19 years of age - the second Italian in history to succeed in the feat - and then the Road European Championships won in Glasgow in 2018 and the Tour of Flanders in 2019.

In the last two seasons she has worn the UAE Team ADQ jersey, with which she achieved seven victories in 2022 and two this season. She has been a leader who has also made a great contribution to the growth of the team.

Today, her end of career was first celebrated publicly on the Giro Donne prize-giving stage, where Marta Bastianelli received the emotional applause of all women's cycling fans and the entire peloton.

Then a private party with friends, family and her entire team, also attended by Head of the Team Melissa Moncada, closed a day to remember and opened a new chapter in the life of Marta Bastianelli to whom UAE Team ADQ can do no more than simply say: THANK YOU!

Marta Bastianelli: “A day full of emotions, I am very happy with how it went, how the whole group greeted me and then Chiara's victory today was the top. I couldn't imagine a better day. I end my career with the knowledge that I have given so much to this sport, I thank all my teammates, the staff, the whole UAE Team ADQ team that has accompanied me these past two years. I hope that the young riders in the group can learn some of the lessons I have left them”.

Chiara Consonni: "An immense joy after a Giro that was not too lucky for me, today I was able to win the stage and I dedicate the victory to Marta Bastianelli who ends her career today. She has been my roommate these past ten days, like a mother, she gave me strength every day and even today she spurred me on to hold on. What can I say. I am so happy for the whole team and now we look forward to the next goals”.