Mara Roldan’s long road back from the broken femur she suffered at the Tour of Britain Women has taken an unwelcome turn, with the Picnic-PostNL rider revealing she is once again off the bike due to new hip and nerve pain. The Canadian has not raced since the heavy crash on stage three in June – a day after she claimed her first Women’s WorldTour victory.
A season transformed in 24 hours
Roldan’s 2025 campaign had been a breakthrough. In her first year at WorldTour level, the 21-year-old impressed with a top-ten ride at Amstel Gold Race and a strong outing at the Vuelta a España Feminina. Then came Saltburn-by-the-Sea: a bold solo move on stage two of the Tour of Britain Women delivered her maiden WWT win.
But the following day, as the race crossed into Scotland on rain-slick roads, she was among more than a dozen riders caught in a mass crash. Roldan came off worst, suffering a fractured femur that required surgery and brought her season to an abrupt halt.
A promising return stalls
In the months that followed, Roldan charted steady progress and was back training with clear goals for 2026. That rhythm was broken this autumn. Speaking on Instagram, she described how her first attempt at running triggered the issue.
“A few weeks ago, I attempted to run for the first time,” she wrote. “What felt like mild inflammation at first slowly developed into constant jolts of pain in my hip, along with nerve compression and tingling down my leg whenever I walked or tried to cycle for longer periods.”
She called it “one of the hardest parts of this recovery yet”, adding that she had finally begun to feel like herself again before the setback. Three weeks of total rest have not resolved the symptoms.
Searching for answers in the Netherlands
Roldan is now in the Netherlands for further tests as doctors work to pinpoint the cause. The uncertainty is proving the most difficult part.
“I’m not sure what’s next or how long it’ll take before I can train, let alone race, again,” she said, hoping the latest scans will “finally understand what’s going on and how to advance from here.”
A hugely promising rider left waiting
Roldan moved to Picnic-PostNL at the start of the season after two years with American squad Cynisca Cycling, signing a deal through 2027. Her early results suggested she was adapting quickly to the WorldTour: a top ten in Amstel, a composed Vuelta, and her landmark victory in Saltburn confirming the scale of her potential.
Her palmarès already includes a stage of the Tour of Britain Women, a stage at the Volta a Portugal Feminina in 2024, and the Canadian U23 time trial title.
But since the wet, chaotic crash that sent the race into disarray on that Scottish stage in June, she has not been able to pin on a number. The next chapter of her recovery now depends on what the latest medical investigations reveal.
For the rider who has already shown she can win at the highest level, the hope is that this setback is a detour rather than a derailment.
Main photo credit: Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com
