Marta Cavalli has confirmed that she feels back to normal after a long period out of racing due to the heavy crash she suffered at the Tour de France Femmes back in July 2022. Stopped after a crash had downed a large portion of the peloton, she was hit from behind as other riders chasing back into the bunch didn’t respond to the change in speed in time. Suffering a concussion from the impact, Cavalli spent almost 3 months recovering before returning to racing at the Giro dell’Emilia where she finished 6th. She was able to complete the Tour de Romandie to end the season but any chance of contesting the World Championships in Wollongong was taken away from her.
“It’s all behind us now. After the first exams, recovery times weren’t clear, I took my time, I went back to racing without the pressure of the result. Now I know I’m physically one hundred percent, I just have to find the condition.
For now I’m thinking about the first part of the season, especially the classics, which honestly are the ones that excite me the most, you win instinctively there, you have an opportunity and you take it. We girls often ask ourselves why the only two monuments of which the female version does not exist are the two Italians, Sanremo and Lombardia: we have started talking about it to those responsible, I am convinced that it will soon be impossible to continue to say no
In the last two years the growth has been evident, there is more consideration, the first shock came from the first Paris-Roubaix: it was there that the media but also other people began to see us in a different way. Then there was the Tour de France, the high point. Before we were still those who are not able to ride a bike, who maybe fall [too much]. There is mistrust, especially in a country attached to traditions like Italy. Abroad the mentality is more open and we cyclists are already the norm. We don’t have to stop at stereotypes, clinging to some negative aspect to demolish an entire movement and everyone’s dreams. It is a pleasure that Giorgia Meloni mentioned Alfonsina Strada together with many women who have made history at her inauguration: it means that we are leaving the niche. It takes time to break down stereotypes, changes are scary, and men are always a little afraid of us.
t the Giro I realized that my sensations improve day by day in stage races, I hope this predisposition will be useful to me in future years. After last year the Tour is a new challenge for me but we haven’t decided yet whether I will ride both the Giro and the Tour or just one of the two. After the classics we will try to make this little change towards the stage races. The programme? I’ll start with the UAE Tour, then Strade Bianche and the Ardennes.”
Marta Cavalli
Her team, FDJ-Suez announced this week as well that Cavalli will ride for them for another 2 years – her contract now runs until the end of the 2024 season. She’s an important rider for the team’s bike frame sponsor Lapierre.
