Silvia Persico has been cycling the high-altitude roads of San Pellegrino for over a month. The athlete of UAE Team ADQ went up first with the team, then she went to the Italian championship and finally she climbed back up the mountain with the national team (photo by Maurizio Borserini at the opening).
"I've been here," she says after the massage, "since May 29th. I was with the team during the first part of the retreat, and on June 18th we went down for the Italian championship. After the race I returned to San Pellegrino on June 25th and will stay until ThursdayThese days my training partners are Paladin, Cecchini and Longo Borghini. Let's say it's a retreat in view of the Paris Olympics, even if the official call-ups will be on July 5th. With the team I worked a lot on the baseline, while with the national team we raised the pace, focusing on quality".
Different ambitions
A month of training is a long time, especially if there will be one soon Giro d'Italia Women's cyclingThe race has been in the hands of RCS Sport since 2024 and in which Persico finished eighth last season.
«To tell the truth – he continues – I struggle a bit at altitude, we'll see how I get down, but I'm working well. The Giro will be a great springboard towards ParisI'm not going to focus on the general classification but on the stages. I've been training for a month now with temperatures of 20 degrees, while at the Giro it will be 10 to 15 degrees Celsius higher. From the 2023 Giro I learned that it is difficult to take care of the classification for an athlete like me.
"I'm good on the climbs, but I'm not a pure climber like Realini or Longo Borghini. I think the Blockhaus climb and the following stage will be really tough. A fraction that intrigues me is that of San Marino, although we will have to understand what the girls in the rankings have in mind. We as UAE ADQ Team we will be more focused on the stages, to try to bring home some individual successes."
Work in progress
Modern cycling has forced, if we may say so, Silvia Persico to try to concentrate her energies on the races that best suit her characteristics.
«Up until now I have only done 23 days of running – says Persico – even though I started early, in January with two races in Spain. Then I went to the UAE Tour and finally direct to the Northern countryside with Flanders, Amstel and Liège. I finished with the Vuelta Burgos, but I wasn't 100 percent fit.From there, it was May 19th, I took five days off and came to the training camp. From that moment on, I only raced in the Italian championship, it was a path that suited me but I wasn't feeling very well. So I made myself available to Gasparrini, it was the right thing to do."
«Compared to 2023, I've changed my plans a bit – he continues – first of all because I have a new trainer: Luca Zenti. Davide Arzeni he couldn't follow me anymore so I went with himWe've set our sights on the first part of the season, eliminating cyclocross in the winter and increasing the hours on the bike. I had a less stressful preparation and this allowed me to start the season early."
Crosshairs on Paris
Coming down from the heights just two days before the start of the Giro d'Italia Women's cycling is indicative. As she also said, Silvia Persico is not putting all her money on the Giro d'Italia, but he also has the Olympic Games in his sights.
«In this second retreat we were able to talk about the Olympics – concludes Persico – of which we are go and see the route precisely with the coach Sangalli. I have to admit I like it a lot, the first part online is quite simple, then you enter the street circuit. That's really tough, there are three laps to do and it's a constant up and down with lots of restarts. If the Giro goes as expected I will come out with good legs, which is useful in view of the race in Paris. It will be a difficult day to manage, but it is a very important event."
