We talked with Maria to tell her story about what life is like in Italy, a country that has been hit significantly by the Coronavirus crisis. She explains the thoughts that run through her head, what her days are like, and how she is maintaining her training indoors. It has also been a time for her to discover and devote time to off-bike passions, which she explains below.
This year was my first year competing at the Timaru 2 day tour, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It ended up being one of my most memorable and favourite tours I’ve done.
I started the Saturday with a 4km ITT, racing in D grade. My goal for the itt was to get a power pb which didn’t quite happen but I was happy to come away with a 3rd!
For stages 2 and 3, I just stayed in the bunch as they were flat stages and I knew that was my weakness.
For stage four I managed to get in a break for about 10km with 3 others unfortunately we got caught.
I then saved my energy for the final stage as there was a lot of climbing. On the final stage there was a massive hill a few km from the finish. This is where I really pushed it and managed to solo to the finish.
I then went from being in 8th place on GC at the start of this stage to 1st GC and taking home the yellow jersey, ( it must have been the multiple coffees and massages from mum!)
Overall I’m really happy with how the weekend went and I can’t wait to do it all again next year!!