Elisa Balsamo
- Discipline
Cycling
- Date of birth
27 February 1998
- Birth place
Cuneo
Elisa is a professional cyclist since 2017. She rides for Trek Segafredo and for Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Oro of the Italian police force Polizia di Stato. In her junior years she achieved some good results, the most important are the four gold medals at the Junior World Championships: in 2015 she won the Scratch (a track specialty), in 2016 she won the Omnium and the Team Pursuit (other two track specialties) and, in the same year, she also won the Road World Championship.
In 2017 she moved in the élite category and got some interesting achievements: the gold medal at the Under 23 European Championship in Omnium and Team Pursuit and the participation with the National Team at the Èlite Road World Championship. During the winter season she raced four (out of five) Track World Cups and, with her National Team mates, she won the general classification in Madison and Team Pursuit. In 2018 Elisa won one of the most important and prestigious medals of her career, the bronze medal at the Èlite Track World Championship (Team Pursuit).
The 2018/2019 season Track World Cups were particularly positive with two bronzes, a silver, a gold medals and the Italian record in the Team Pursuit and a bronze in the madison. In 2019 she got four road wins, one of them at the last stage of the Tour of California, a World Tour race!
Elisa was then called up by the National Team for the second edition of the European Olympic Games, taking home a gold medal in the Team Pursuit and a bronze in the Omnium. The 2019/2020 Winter World Cups started in the best way with a bronze medal in the Team Pursuit in Minsk. Her 2020 season on the track was crowned with a wonderful bronze medal in the Madison at the World Championships in Berlin, certainly the most important medal of her cycling life so far.
Thanks to the excellent results she was able to get a pass for the Olympic Games in all three endurance specialties of the track: Team Pursuit, Madison and Omnium.
Although the 2020 season was unusual, Elisa managed to achieve several important results: on the road side the victory of the Road European U23 Championship and the victory of the last stage of the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta; on the track side the silver medal at the Èlite European Championship in Team Pursuit (ended with the new Italian record of 4.13.632) and the two golds, won in the same event, in the Omnium and Madison.
The 2021 started in the best way with some good results at the spring’s classics and a victory in Belgium at GP Oetingen. After that Elisa dedicated her self to the track preparation for the Olympic Games, where she participated in all three endurance competitions. Her experience in Tokyo wan not so lucky because of two crashes, but she achieved a 6th place in the team pursuit in which they also made the new Italian record (4’10″063). The coronation of her biggest dream arrived in September with the World Road Champion title in Leuven! The season ended with two medals at the track world championships: the silver medal in the team pursuit and the bronze one in the omnium.
Results
Cycling
Juniores World Championship Scrach on track
Juniores World Championship Omnium and Track Pursuit on track
Juniores World Championship on track
Under 23 European Championship Omnium and Team Pursuit
Elite World Championship on track – Team Pursuit
World Cup on track with italian record – Team Pursuit
World Cup on track – Madison
European Olympic Games – Team Pursuit
World Championship in Berlin – Madison
Winter World Cup – Team Pursuit
Under 23 Road European Championship
Elite European Champion with italian record – Team Pursuit
Elite European Championship – Omnium
Elite European Championship – Madison
Last Round of La Vuelta WWD (road)
Road World Championship
Track World Championship – Team Pursuit
Track World Championship – Omnium
