Hello again everybody!
Maybe I have already mentioned that the reason why I really love Spring Classics is the fact that they are a beautiful mixture of focus, smartness, power, luck, twists and nothing is certain until the finish line. For the riders who’s goals are the Classics, this is a very intense and important period. Every weekend we have the chance to put on our helmet and fight to try to win these glorious and iconic races.
I have just returned back home from a good weekend in Holland where I raced Drenthe [WorldTour] and Drentse 8. It was quite a successful week for me and my Canyon//SRAM team, but now I am already focused on my next race: Trofeo Binda. This is without doubt one of my favourite races of the season as it is an Italian race and as you all know I don’t have the chance to race often on home soil, showing my tricolour jersey and having my parents, my dog and my friends along the road cheering for me and my team. I love Trofeo Binda also because of the nature of the race: it has a bit of everything: fast flat parts, a lot of climbs and some quite technical downhills.
I again expect a very hard race and some strong attacks on the climbs from the World Tour Leader Elisa Longo Borghini. She will race on home soil with her Violet jersey making her for sure extra motivated and I also expect a lot of action from the strongest teams.
Historically, every year this race has been decided in the last ascent up to the Orino climb, where from a group of selected riders a small bunch with 5 to 10 girls fly away to the finish line. But from last year, another climb, Casalzuigno, has been added to the menu and this actually helped to split the peloton before Orino, making the race even harder than it has been before.
I’m really looking forward to racing with my team on Sunday, but for me now is time to recover from the Dutch fatigues, regenerate, get some good training in my legs and rest up before the big day.
Stay tuned, I’m sure as always #womencycling will put on a great show in Cittiglio!!!!
Elena
