Elisa Balsamo (born 27 February 1998) is an Italian road and track cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's World Team Lidl–Trek,[3] and represents Italy at international competitions.
After competing at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships in the women's junior road race she became junior world champion at the 2016 UCI Road World Championships in the junior's road race. She won the gold medal at the 2016 UEC European Track Championships in the team pursuit.[4]
Early life
Balsamo was born in Cuneo in 1998. Her father was an amateur cyclist. Before taking up cycling, she had competed in a number of skiing disciplines, as well as biathlon and swimming.[5]
Career
Balsamo's first major win came at the 2016 UCI Road World Championships in Doha, where she won the Road Race in a bunch sprint ahead of Skylar Schneider.[6] She signed for Valcar–PBM for the 2017 season.[7] Her first professional win came at the Omloop van Borsele in April 2018,[8] followed by a win at the GP Bruno Beghelli later in the year.[9]
In 2019, Balsamo finished first in a bunch sprint at the Dwars door de Westhoek,[10]as well as stages at the Tour of California[11] and the Giro delle Marche in Rosa. In 2020, Balsamo won the final stage of the Madrid Challenge, overtaking Lorena Wiebes in the final 50 metres.[12]
Balsamo began the 2021 season with a win at the GP Oetingen.[13] She competed for Italy at the 2020 Summer Olympics; whilst she broke the Italian record as part of the team pursuit, she finished in 8th position in the madison and outside the Top 10 in the omnium.[14] After a period of stage racing in Spain and The Netherlands, during which she finished second in the Grand Prix d'Isbergues,[5] she was selected as part of the Italian team for the UCI Road World Championships. After a number of attempts by the Dutch team to break away from the group, Balsamo won the bunch sprint from the remaining group of around 25 riders, ahead of Marianne Vos.[15] Her first win as World Champion came at The Women's Tour, in which she won the final stage.[16]
Major results
Road
- 2015
- 3rd Road race, National Junior Championships
- 5th Trofeo Avis Suvereto
- 6th Road race, UCI World Junior Championships
- 6th Giro della Provincia di Pordenone
- 2016
- 1st
Road race, UCI World Junior Championships - 1st
Road race, National Junior Championships - 2nd
Road race, UEC European Junior Championships - 2nd Gent–Wevelgem Juniors
- 3rd Trofeo Mendelspeck
- 4th Gran Premio Hotel Fiera Bolzano
- 7th Trofeo Oro
- 8th Memorial Diego e Stefano Trovó
- 2017
- 1st Giro Dei Due Comuni
- 1st Grand Prix Crevoisier
- 1st
Sprints classification, Giro della Toscana - 2nd Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli
- 2nd Sparkassen Giro
- 2nd Memorial F. Basso
- 7th SwissEver GP Cham-Hagendorn
- 2018
- 1st Omloop van Borsele
- 1st Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli
- 2nd Grand Prix de Dottignies
- 5th Time trial, UEC European Under-23 Championships
- 2019
- 1st Trofee Maarten Wynants
- 1st Dwars door de Westhoek
- 2nd Omloop van Borsele
- 2020
- 1st
Road race, UEC European Under-23 Championships - 1st Stage 3 Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta
- 2021
- 1st Road race, UCI World Championships
- 1st Stage 6 The Women's Tour
- 3rd Scheldeprijs
- 3rd Brabantse Pijl
- 4th Gent–Wevelgem
- 7th Trofeo Alfredo Binda
- 7th Dwars door de Westhoek
- 10th Road race, UEC European Championships
- 2022
- 1st Road race, National Championships
- 1st Trofeo Alfredo Binda
- 1st Classic Brugge–De Panne
- 1st Gent–Wevelgem
- Giro Donne
- 1st Stages 1 & 4
- Challenge by La Vuelta
- 1st Stages 1 (TTT) & 5
- 1st Stage 1 Setmana Ciclista Valenciana
- 1st Stage 3 Tour de Suisse
- 2nd Road race, UEC European Championships
- 2nd Ronde van Drenthe
- 4th Tre Valli Varesine
- 8th Amstel Gold Race
- 2023
- Setmana Ciclista Valenciana
- 1st Stages 1 & 2
- 2nd Trofeo Alfredo Binda
- 2nd Classic Brugge–De Panne
- 4th Ronde van Drenthe
- 4th Nokere Koerse
- 2024
- 1st Trofeo Alfredo Binda
- 1st Classic Brugge–De Panne
- 2nd Paris–Roubaix
- 2nd Ronde van Drenthe
- 2nd Gent–Wevelgem
- 10th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Classics results timeline
| Monuments | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paris–Roubaix | Race did not exist | NH | 57 | DSQ | 58 | 2 | ||
| Tour of Flanders | — | 74 | DNF | — | 15 | 28 | 38 | 47 |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | DNF | 83 | 38 | — | — | — | |
| Classic | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| Omloop Het Nieuwsblad | — | — | — | — | 19 | 4 | 61 | 10 |
| Strade Bianche | 76 | — | — | 33 | 55 | 45 | 31 | — |
| Ronde van Drenthe | — | 25 | DNF | NH | — | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Trofeo Alfredo Binda | 35 | 11 | 42 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Classic Brugge–De Panne | — | 11 | 5 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Gent–Wevelgem | — | 54 | 9 | — | DNF | 1 | 68 | 2 |
| Amstel Gold Race | — | 38 | 10 | NH | 49 | 8 | 76 | |
| La Flèche Wallonne | — | 38 | 54 | 46 | — | — | — | |
| GP de Plouay | — | — | 15 | — | — | 15 | 15 | |
| Open de Suède Vårgårda | — | 19 | — | Not held | — | Not held | ||
Track
- 2015
- 1st Scratch, UCI World Junior Championships
- 1st
Team pursuit, UEC European Junior Championships - 1st Team pursuit, National Junior Championships
- 2016
- 1st Team pursuit, UEC European Championships
- UCI World Junior Championships
- 1st Omnium
- 1st Team pursuit
- 1st
- UEC European Junior Championships
- 1st Omnium
- 1st Team pursuit
- 1st
- 1st Scratch, National Junior Championships
- 1st Individual pursuit, 3 Jours d'Aigle
- 2nd Team pursuit, UCI World Cup, Glasgow
- 2017
- UEC European Championships
- 1st Team pursuit
- 3rd
Omnium
- 1st
- UEC European Under-23 Championships
- 1st Omnium
- 1st Team pursuit
- 3rd Madison
- 1st
- UCI World Cup, Pruszków
- 1st Team pursuit
- 3rd Individual pursuit
- 3rd Madison (with Maria Giulia Confalonieri)
- 6 Giorni di Torino internazionale
- 1st Omnium
- 1st Points
- Belgian International Meeting
- 2nd Omnium
- 3rd Madison (with Rachele Barbieri)
- 2nd Omnium, Prilba Moravy
- 2018
- UEC European Under-23 Championships
- 1st Team pursuit
- 3rd Madison
- 1st
- 1st Madison, National Championships
- 2nd Team pursuit, UEC European Championships
- 3rd
Team pursuit, UCI World Championships - 2022
- 1st Team pursuit, UCI World Championships
References
External links
- Elisa Balsamo at UCI
- Elisa Balsamo at Cycling Archives
- Elisa Balsamo at ProCyclingStats
- Elisa Balsamo at CycleBase
- Elisa Balsamo at Olympics.com
- Elisa Balsamo at Olympedia
- Elisa Balsamo at the Italian National Olympic Committee (in Italian)
