The seasonal debut of Elisa Balsamo in the World Tour rounds has been amazing. After a unfortunate Ronde Van Drenthe (Holland) where the cyclist from Piedmont coulnd’t sprint for the victory due to a slowdown after a fall of another cyclist, Elisa ended 11° place at the Trofeo Binda, the tough round in Cittiglio, valid as 3rd race of the World Tour.
A great result for 3 reasons at least. Elisa Balsamo comes from a preparation focused on the World championship on track and there were many variable on which could have been her physical endurance on those kind of races.
The second reason of joy for the cyclist is that, despite her young age she’s been the second better italian: only Elisa Longo Borghini did better, and Elisa managed to put behind her back important names such as Coryn Rivera.
It’s been a crazy result because there was an improvement compared to 2017, when Elisa closed in the second group but didn’t have the strenght to sprint.
An improvement that took place for each element of the team: Maria Giulia Confalonieri and AsjaPaladin closed in the group of di Elisa Balsamo at 19° and at 47°place while Dalia Muccioli has been determinant in the closing job. A good perforformance of Chiara Zanettin while it was an unlucky day for Silvia Pollicini, stopped by a punching and then put out of games from the judges.
Now is time for the northern classics “Classiche del Nord” where the aim of the youngest will be to be noticedd on these tough races. 8 athletes will compete, in alternation. Elisa Balsamo, Maria Giulia Confalonieri e Silvia Pollicini, Marta Cavalli, Silvia Persico and Ilaria Sanguineti, Chiara Consonni e Alessia Vigilia. All the girls will run at least two out of the five rounds: Driedaagse De Panne – Koksijde(march 22nd),Gent-Wevelgem (march 25th), Dwars door Vlaanderen(march 28th), Giro delle Fiandre (april 1st) e GP Dottignies (april 2nd).
