ELISA BALSAMO A WORLD APART
And so, this gin-clear autumnal morning, to the shores of Lake Iseo. Here, where the ancient provinces of Bergamo and Brescia connect, Procycling is with the all-new world champion. Since you’re asking, it’s true that Elisa Balsamo is to piano playing as Primož Roglic is to ski-jumping. By all accounts she’s extremely accomplished, but she says she’s barely touched the thing in years. She reckons playing the piano is a lot like cycling, which is to say you need to be doing it properly or not at all. She’ll be back at it when she’s done with the bike, but that’s a long way down the road.
We’re happy to report Balsamo is shy, humble and eminently likeable. You can’t help but warm to her, and the same goes for her trackie fidanzato. Davide Plebani is of these parts, and it seems he’s a very good pursuiter off the bike as well as on it. The two of them are all smiles.
Balsamo’s father was a handy amateur cyclist, but like many Cunesi kids, her first sporting achievements were in the mountains. “I didn’t become a cyclist because my dad had ridden,” she says. “I did all the skiing disciplines before I started, and also tried biathlon and swimming. I tried cycling when I was 13, and that was it for me. I loved
