In 2022, Neve Bradbury lined up at the Giro d’Italia Women with the hopes of just getting through her longest stage race to date, but the young Australian did so much more. Taking a top-ten overall on her debut at one of the toughest events on the women’s calendar was a pivotal moment, one that proved the rider who made her way into the peloton via the Zwift Academy had the makings of a serious Grand Tour GC force.
Jump forward two years, and it feels like Bradbury is in the process of launching another big step up. She is this year a supported GC rider for Canyon-SRAM at the Giro from July 7-14, fresh from her first Women’s WorldTour stage win and second overall at the Tour de Suisse.
It was a breakthrough result that 2022 Giro Donne first indicated was on the horizon, but the strong start to this year made it clear that the build was coming sooner rather than later. Bradbury hadn’t had the easiest of 2023 seasons, between injury – an elbow fracture – and “sometimes things just don't click and for whatever reason they weren't last year,” but the hard work through the off-season paid off.
After January, Bradbury was the U23 Australian road champion and had stood on her first WorldTour podium on the Willunga Hill stage of the Tour Down Under—a tour in which she also came third overall.
“I knew I was building, so to be able to get a good result, even though I was still quite unfit, it was quite reassuring,” Bradbury told Cyclingnews when reflecting on the opening stages of the season. “I feel like we just came into 2024 with a good start and just kept on building from that.”
She upped the ante in February with a second on stage 3 of the UAE Tour, and her success on the climb of Jebel Hafeet also gave her second overall. For a time, she also held the lead spot on the Women’s WorldTour. The hope was to carry the momentum on to a leadership role at La Vuelta Femenina as well, but her debut there will have to wait for another year after illness intervened.
"I was really, really upset about that," said Bradbury. "I went to the start of the Vuelta, and I was in the hotel for four days before I decided that there was no way I could have raced – I was just so sick with the flu.
"It was disappointing, but also, these things happen ... so I just kind of accepted it and tried to think of the positives – like I had two weeks off the bike, then maybe ended up being a good thing for now."
The lead into the Giro d'Italia Women at the Tour de Suisse certainly indicated it may have been beneficial when Bradbury and teammate Kasia Niewiadoma rode away from the rest of the field on stage 3 to set up that first WorldTour win at the four-day race.
"That was insane. Honestly it was, like, the dream race," said Bradbury, with the memory of it lifting her voice, adding a joyous tone. "To be able to cross the line first and second with my teammate, no one else around, it was epic.
"It was just so nice to finally get a result for the team, cause I feel like we are always there, but never really winning that often, and we were riding so well together. I feel like this whole year, we've been riding well together as a team, so it was nice to get that."
It, too, was a "huge confidence boost" to be able to ride away from her rivals on a climb.
The trick now is to keep doing it.
Primed but not placed
The Giro d'Italia Women this year looks set to be the most open edition in recent years, with the riders who have dominated at the race through the past six years, Annemiek van Vleuten and Anna van der Breggen, no longer in the picture and the new dominant GC climbing force in the women's peloton, Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime), is also expected to be focussing on other goals.
That means the ideal combination of experience, form, and opportunity looks to be converging for Bradbury and the team, who will be looking toward her and also rising 21-year-old Antonia Niedermaier to form a formidable climbing duo to chase both the overall and youth classifications.
Niewiadoma may have been the most successful player for the squad at the race in recent years, finishing second in 2020 and seventh in 2018, but has focussed on other goals since her podium result – the new generation of riders on the squad means they have a clear alternate plan.
There is no doubt that the Giro d'Italia Women is a race that has a special place for Bradbury. That successful 2022 edition was the first time she really got to step up and chase a result with the force of the team behind her after her climb up the GC meant she morphed into a leader. It was a moment of realisation for both those watching and the rider herself.
"It was like, maybe I can do this, actually, maybe I am a GC rider," said Bradbury.
2023 was a tougher edition, ending with a DNF, amid a challenging season but now Bradbury will be lining up for her third Giro d'Italia Women with three Women's WorldTour overall podium results already on her season tally and also a course that should lean into her climbing strength.
"Towards the end of the Giro is really hard which suits me quite well," said Bradbury. "When it's quite hard, quite late, everyone's tired – that's usually what would suit me quite well. I'm really looking forward to the second last stage."
The 123km stage 7, the queen stage of the race, makes its way up the Blockhaus. The first time up to the Lanciano Pass, which is 12.4km at 8.3% with a maximum gradient of 13% and the second finishing climb adds another 5.3 kilometres at 7% for a total climb of 17.7 km. That delivers an elevation gain of around 3,600 or, as Bradbury gleefully described it, "something silly".
"That will be really hard but hopefully it will be good," said Bradbury, clearly excited rather than intimidated by the prospect. "I haven't done a race that hard yet. I don't think, period. I think it will be a test for a lot of riders though."
The challenge doesn't end there either, with the final stage in the mountains, potentially leaving the opportunity for a GC shuffle open through to the final kilometres of racing.
When we speak to Bradbury via phone at the start of the week, she is in the midst of those final preparations, finishing off her training at altitude in Andorra so she can give her best – whatever that may be.
"We will just be going full gas for GC and see what happens ... just do the best we can and whatever comes, comes," said the rider, whose best this season has yielded plenty so far.
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