Milan-Sanremo Donne - Pre-race catch-up with Elisa Balsamo

It would be a dream come true! Previewing the Milan-Sanremo Donne with Elisa Balsamo

Lidl-Trek rider Elisa Balsamo is buzzing after doing a hat-trick of victories at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda Women's WorldTour race, up near Lake Maggiore, Italy.

Photo: Lidl-Trek

Now she has headed 200km South to the Ligurian coast to gear up for the Milan-San Remo Women. The return of this cycle race to the women's calendar has been greeted with much excitement and anticipation - not least for Italian riders like Elisa.

With her team-mate Ilaria Sanguineti, who is from Sanremo, the Lidl-Trek team have been studying all aspects of this course meticulously. From the start in Genoa, via the key ramps at Capo Mele, Capo Cervo, Capo Berta, onwards to Cipressa, and to the last decisive point of the race, Poggio di San Remo just outside the stylish riviera town, the riders have got to know every inch of tarmac over the last three months.

Furthermore, the team's sports director Ina-Yoko Teutenberg competed in the race in 2000, before the 20-year hiatus in 2005.

Like the previous incarnation of the race, the Primavera Rosa, the route goes along the Ligurian coast. But in this revived race, the athletes will compete over 156km from Genoa to the stylish riviera town rather than the 118km that the racers did from Varazze a quarter of a century ago. Nevertheless, the competition will be every bit as competitive as when the 25-year old Ina was edged into second place by Diana Ziliute in a bunch sprint.

The veteran may want to see if she can go one better with one of her protegees. Here's what Elisa had to say in the virtual pre-race press briefing this week:

Elisa Balsamo's thoughts on Milan Sanremo Donne

It’s really good that it’s [Milan-Sanremo Donne] coming back and I’m really looking forward to it. For me, racing in Italy is always nice. It’s also not so far away from my house, so my family can join and I really like this place.

I think this is a big achievement to have this race back. In the last five years we were really fighting for a full calendar. We are missing just a few races, but this one is an important one in the calendar, and I’m really happy that we have it again. I think that everyone will want to win because you can make history in Sanremo, especially after 20 years. So I think it’s going to be a big fight.

I’m feeling good and I also think that you never know what can happen in these kind of races. It’s more or less like [Trofeo] Binda as you don’t know if it will be a bunch sprint, a small bunch, a breakaway, or a solo, and I think it’ll be the same in Sanremo even if the profile of the race is really different. 

My parents really liked cycling so when I was really young we were always watching it on the TV but it was like a kind of a nice day in front of the TV because the race was really long! I was so excited to watch the fight on Poggio or Cipressa and you didn’t know if there would be a sprint or a little bunch, a crazy downhill. So since I was a child I was always watching this race. 

One recent memory that sticks out in my mind was from two years ago when watching the descent of Mathieu Van der Poel on the Poggio, when he went to the front and pushed on ahead at top speed. I watched it and was amazed – and thought, wow, bloody hell! I can’t believe it. He just attacked and didn’t even seem to have a single doubt - not even for a second. He just went off straight ahead and that really struck me because in the end the Sanremo can even be won by a millisecond in this aspect when you just decide to go full pelt on a downhill. You look for a split second, jump ahead and you've taken 50 metres that no one is able to bridge to. For me that was a most impressive thing.

It is great to have Ina as our DS [Director Sportive] because she has raced almost every race we are doing now and so I think it is just nice because she can give a lot of suggestions and advice. We are lucky to have Ina with us.

She was also riding with us today [Tuesday] and yesterday, so I think she can give us important feedback also on the climbs and yes of course she is a really strong rider. Ina's opinion is that they are climbs that are suited to a classics rider and also to a sprinter who can go over climbs that aren’t too long. She said if you can manage to hold on then it’s all about believing in yourself and being able to give that extra push. So she told me I should believe in myself on Saturday. 

I know the roads and the climbs quite well. I came here with Ilaria [Sanguineti] in December as she lives really close to Sanremo and knows the area really well as she trains on these roads almost every day, so she gave advice around the descents. Ilaria knows everything about these roads - every single nook and cranny, especially on the Poggio. She knows all the secrets! She said I should be particularly careful if it rains as it would be very slippery. We also had some days where I visited here, and I have seen the climbs again today. So I think we will be ready.

The downhills are quite technical. Our team worked with a person for the technical part of the training in the training camp in December and January. But we also have this guy here with us and he can help us to improve in the downhills. I think it is really important because we could see the men’s race was also won in the downhill of Poggio some years. So it is not only about being fast in the climbs but also good in the downhill.

We have seen the weather forecast and it could be quite bad with the rain, but then again there’s nothing we can do about it. So for me, there’s no point in letting it get to me as we have no control over that. Of course I would have preferred sunshine but ….we’ll see.

Everybody learned from Nieuwsblad what happened [None of the big teams was willing to chase down the breakaway which accrued 14 minutes and the top riders missed out on a win, with Demi Vollering, arguably the strongest rider in the race, placing third - more than three minutes behind the surprise winner.] but also everyone really wants to win Sanremo. There can be a breakaway, but of course all the peloton will work together to not have 10 minutes to the breakaway and then everyone will fight on the climb so I am quite sure that at least five or six teams can work together to keep the breakaway close. It’s such an important race and everyone wants to fight for the win, so I’m quite sure that it’s [Nieuwsblad scenario] not going to happen. 

I think that there will be attacks from Cipressa. There are a lot of strong teams and strong climbers and classics riders and I think Cipressa will be really hard from the bottom to the top, but they will try to attack. But it is still a long distance between Cipressa and Poggio, and maybe we could come back together and a small group will form. Then on the Poggio they will attack. 

I think that the climbs are hard but not crazy climbs so they are good climbs for a classics rider or a sprinter that is able to survive on the climbs. In my opinion Capo Berta is a little bit underestimated. It is 2km and is quite steep, but in reality it is a bit too far from the finish to make much difference. So to attack on the Capo Berta could mean that the team is better placed to be able take a lead and hold on through to Cipressa and right up to Poggio. But I think that would be a bit difficult because we are teams of six, which is one rider less than the men and I think that riding with one rider less wouldn’t make a significant difference to the race in that aspect. However, if the race is going at a good pace you could form a small group going over Capo Berta and it could make a small difference to the peloton 

My perfect scenario is a small bunch sprint but I know that before that I need to survive the climbs. Also I think the downhill is quite technical so I really hope for a small bunch sprint.

I also looked at the finish straight. As a sprinter It's a really important thing to recon the last few metres of a race like that. I must say it was a bit chaotic, as it was very crowded - it's hard to imagine that road [Via Roma] being empty! The road goes slightly uphill at the end and that's fine for me.

For sure I will be the leader for a sprint. But we also have Niamh [Fisher-Black] who was good in Strade [Bianche] so she is the climber of the team and she can also be an option but I think honestly we have to race as a team and stay together as much as possible. You never know, of course, what will happen, but I think we are a strong team.  

Coming back after two really bad crashes was not easy, but I am really happy that I am here, that I feel good and yes I feel that I was a little bit unlucky in the last two years but I was always fighting so I am just happy to be back, to feel good and to be here with my team. 

I would say that I was fortunate at Binda because of the pace of the race and I was looked after by my team very well. We had Lizzie [Deignan] in the breakaway and so we were able to keep me going at a more relaxed pace. The fact that there was the breakaway ahead meant the first few laps were done, let’s say, with hardly any attacks and at a more constant pace, which was helpful for me. Then in the final laps when the pace went up I felt good, so that confirmed that we had worked well together.

It’s really hard for the organisation to close all the roads here as the roads are so busy and I can understand that it’s hard to organise long races also for us. But I think 160km is a good distance and am just happy that it [Milan-Sanremo] is in the calendar.

Photo: Lidl-Trek

To be honest I don’t really agree when people say women's classics races should be longer or stage races should have more stages. I think that the spectacle of the race is not linked to the races being longer or the Tours having more stages. Maybe the Grand Tours could be a little bit longer, for example over 10 days. But I don’t think you should confound the fact that a race could be more interesting because of its length. They are two separate things. A race could be hard, and be interesting even if it is just 140, 150, 160km. At the end of the day it’s for the riders to make the difference. In my opinion having races that are so long risks losing the suspense and losing a bit of the spectacle that a race could otherwise bring.

I am sure that the road will be full of crowds on the climbs and on the finish straight because in Italy we love cycling and so everyone around here will come to see the race. 

For me personally, winning the Sanremo would be a dream – especially as an Italian cyclist. It would be a wonderful thing. So for me it’s a big objective because it is the first Sanremo in a long time. Winning this would be even better than winning a stage of the Giro because I really love the Classics. I really love one-day races. I’ve already lived the emotion of winning a Giro stage and wearing the Maglia Rosa. So winning the Sanremo is another different emotion I would like to live.   

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