Sara Casasola on why riders are choosing to transfer from CX to road: "You can't be everywhere, otherwise they' pick you up with a teaspoon in three years"

Women's cyclocross continues to be almost exclusively Dutch business with Fem van Empel, Lucinda Brand and Ceylin Alvarado in center of all field action. Behind them, perhaps a bit surprisingly, a lone Italian warrior Sara Casasola puts up a great fight in her National champion jersey. In the past, she used to have many sisters in arms, but most Italian cyclocrossers have already switched to road instead.

"I'm lucky enough to have found one that lets me do both disciplines, so obviously I have more freedom," Casasola knows very well in an interview with Bici.pro. "In Gaia's Lidl-Trek (Realini, ed.) there are those who continue to do cross, but there perhaps it's up to the athlete to decide where it's best. She's had some truly impressive seasons on the road and I think that at those levels also doing cross would be a limitation. She's been strong in the classics, she's been strong in the Grand Tours, she's been strong at the end of the season so you can't expect anything else."

"While in the case of Silvia (Persico, ed.), the decision was probably dictated by the team and also by the results she's achieved on the road. We're talking about athletes who have achieved results at WorldTour level. In my case, the team focuses a lot on cross, being in the group of the best teams. However, they'll also let me do some good activity on the road and this is one of the reasons that pushed me to come here."

"The road is good and it's also nice to do it at a high level, maybe not for the whole season. It's not easy to reconcile both seasons and it can happen that the athlete is forced to make choices, like Gaia and Silvia. You can't get everywhere, otherwise you do two years strong on the road and in cross and then in the third you fade away and they pick you up with a teaspoon."

"Unfortunately with the level that there is now, you go all winter, all summer and you no longer have a rest period: athletes who prefer one discipline to the other are not to be blamed. Everyone has their own dynamics, everyone knows their characteristics and where they can perform better. Having said that, it's bad to see athletes who were strong in cross stop."