Fresh off her victory in one of the most prestigious races in women’s cycling, Mara Abbott is set to compete this week in the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic.

Abbott, a 27-year-old from Boulder, Colo., won the overall title at the eight-stage Giro Rosa in Italy last week, besting Italian time trial champion Tatiana Guderzo, who finished second overall, and Germany’s Claudia Hausler, who finished third.

A former women’s road race national champion (2007 and 2010) who rides for Exergy, Abbott also won the overall title at the Cascade Cycling Classic in 2010.

“That’s probably the biggest race in the world for women,” CCC race director Chad Sperry says of the Giro Rosa. “Just being able to have her coming off that win in Europe is a huge bonus for us.”

Abbott also won the Giro in 2010.

Another pro women’s racer to watch this week is Oregonian Jade Wilcoxson, from the town of Talent near Medford. Wilcoxson, who rides for Optum, won the women’s road race national championship in Tennessee in late May, and she finished fourth overall at the Cascade last year.

Alison Powers, who rides for NOW and Novartis for MS and resides in Pinecliffe, Colo., is returning to defend her 2012 overall title in the Cascade Cycling Classic.

“It’s going to be a stacked women’s field again,” Sperry said. “All the big pro teams in the U.S. will be here.”

—Mark Morical