Everything about Elisa Balsamo

Who is Elisa Balsamo?

Elisa Balsamo, born Feb. 27, 1998, is an Italian professional cyclist and one of the best sprinters in the women's peloton. She rides for Lidl-Trek and broke through with her world road title in 2021. Balsamo has scored numerous victories in both one-day races and stage races, including successes in the Giro d'Italia Donne, Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Classic Brugge-De Panne. Her speed and tactical acumen make her a dangerous competitor in bunch sprints and classics.

Name: Elisa Balsamo
Date of birth: 27 February 1998
Birthplace: Cuneo, Italy
Turned pro: 2017
Height: 1.65m

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Elisa Balsamo Strade Bianche

Elisa Balsamo was born in Cuneo, northern Italy on Feb. 27, 1998. She is one of Italy's leading cyclists and a track and road racer who achieved her greatest successes based on her sprinting abilities. She is said to have an FTP of about 250 watts, or 4.5 W/Kg in estimate. She also has a university degree in modern and contemporary literature.

Coming from a family of avid cyclists, she participated in several sports in her youth. She eventually discovered her talent in cycling and persevered. As a junior rider, she traveled to the world championships in Doha and became world champion. She proved her talent and caught the attention of some of the world's best teams, including Valcar-PBM with whom she signed in 2017.

On the track, as a junior she captured a world title in Scratch, European and national titles in Team Pursuit in 2015, and 2016 she became world and European champion in both Omnium and Team Pursuit, as well as national champion in Scratch. In 2017, she became European champion in the Omnium and both Elite and Under-23 Team Pursuit champion. In 2018, she became European Under-23 Team Pursuit champion and Italian Madison champion. After a long break, she returned in 2022 and won another title at the World Team Pursuit Championships.

On the road, she took her first pro steps in 2017 where she finished 2nd at the GP Beghelli Internazionale Donne where she finished second at just 18. In 2018 , she proved herself in the pro peloton by taking victory in the Italian race, in addition to what was her first pro win in the Omloop van Borsele in April. She finished 3rd in the World Tour RideLondon Classique and showed more strong performances throughout the season.

In 2019 , she won the Trofee Maarten Wynants, Dwars door de Wetshoek and stages in the Tour of California and Giro delle Marche in Rosa, as well as finishing 2nd in the national championships and RideLondon Classique. She also showed talent in the cobbled classics. In 2020 , she had a short calendar with only 17 race days, but her two victories were both very high level, winning the European Under-23 Championships in Plouay and the final stage of the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta - in addition to finishing in the Top10 of La Course by Le Tour de France.

2021, however, was her breakthrough year. During the year, she won the GP de Oetingen and finished in the Top 5 of Brugge-De Panne, Ghent-Wevelgem, Scheldeprijs and De Brabantse Pijl, showing her talent in the Belgian classics. She had not really shown she was the woman to beat at the world championships in Leuven, but she took advantage of a more compact race than the men that ended in a reduced bunch sprint and she beat Marianne Vos in the light uphill sprint to become world champion. Later in the year, she picked up her first win in the rainbow jersey at the Women's Tour.

In 2022, when she transferred to Trek - Segafredo, she opened her year with a victory in the Volta Comunitat Valenciana. It was a very strong spring with consecutive wins in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, Bruges-De Panne classic and Ghent-Wevelgem, proving her talent as a leading classics rider. She also won the Italian national championships later in the summer, as well as stage wins in the Tour of Switzerland and Giro d'Italia. Balsamo finished second at the European championships behind Lorena Wiebes, but she won the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta to complete her season before giving away the rainbow jersey.

Balsamo immediately began her season with two consecutive wins in the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana and took second places in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Classic Brugge-De Panne. Her season fell into two parts as she crashed during the Ride London Classique with serious consequences. She suffered a fractured scapula and compound fractures to her right mandible condyle and mandible symphysis. She returned to the Tour de France Femmes two months later, although she had to abandon the entire race. However, she returned to her winning ways at the Simac Ladies Tour.

In 2024 the Italian was hampered by a serious crash in May mid-sprint which saw her suffer several head injuries,  but surprisingly she returned only one month later. Early in the year Balsamo won at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana but also the key Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Classic Brugge-De Panne. She was second at Paris-Roubaix Femmes showcasing her tremendous classics skills. With the effects of her injuries and competition such as Lorena Wiebes she struggled to win later in the year but still managed to raise her arms at the Tour de Romandie Féminin and was also runner-up behind Wiebes at the European Championships.