Elisa Balsamo She has been living in Bergamo for a long time with her partner Davide plebaniBut his heart remains in Piasco, and it couldn't be otherwise. It's his parents' homeland, and it was in this small village near Cuneo that he took his first steps and even his first pedal strokes. It was from there that his world conquest began...
Claudio Mattio, responsible with his brother Silvio for the Sc Vigor, he is proud when he talks about her and her beginnings as well as about all those who have come out of his association and they are many: «It's like a family, in fact it really is, for example Enrico Olivero and Michael Bertaina (by a dramatic irony of fate, at dawn on the day this article was published, Enrico and Michele had a road accident, in which the first lost his life, while the second is hospitalised in serious conditions, ed.), who ran to the Beltrami, they are Elisa's cousins and like them others have written beautiful pages. For us, cycling is something that enters our veins, it has always been like that.».
What was Elisa Balsamo like when she started out?
A simple girl, but physically you could see that she was well built and could do great things. The great thing is that not only did she start winning straight away, but she also beat the boys, when it came to sprinting there was no one to beat her.She was with us when she won Italian road and track titles as a rookie and again as a junior, and every time it was a celebration. I say she comes from a family of geniuses, it couldn't have been otherwise.
Explain…
Take his uncle, not only an Italian amateur cycling champion but also an engineer with a first-class degree. And his mother? At the bank where she worked, they said she could write paperwork with one hand and serve customers with the other... His father, who was his first coach, won many races in his category in his day, and was a man who could even handle long climbs. I remember we went to Sicily to race the Giro delle Madonie for amateurs: he won two stages and the final classification. She always wore it and little by little she became passionate about it.
How long did she stay with you?
Elisa ran until her 1st year as a junior, She was therefore registered with us when she won her first world title and two European track titles. I'll tell you a story: when she won the rainbow jersey, we put up a long banner in the square to celebrate her and remember that she was our daughter. When she won in Leuven, we didn't have time to prepare anything, so we took it out and put it back on. After all, it was always for a world title...
Was there any celebration for his victory in Belgium?
Of course, but also for all his victories. I repeat, she is one of us, we are very close to her and she is very close to usWe keep in touch, and his father is still involved in the club and in training the boys; he's a technician with a level 3 license.
How did Elisa manage to balance cycling and studying?
He never had any problems, the track for example, was an hour and a half away by car: Her parents never stopped her from taking her there and she took advantage of every moment to study, in fact she was very good at school., top of the class. The newspapers said that besides being a cyclist, she's also a great piano player; she studied for 10 years, but few people know that she can also play the harpsichord...
Elisa started winning at a very young age: aren't you worried that she might wear herself out?
She has never been stressed about the activity, in the sense that he has never done anything excessively and I'm sure this helps him even nowShe knows how to handle herself and schedule events. Her recent victories confirm this. We hope that now that the season is over, she can find some time to stop by; we'll throw her a big party...
