Elisa Balsamo may have been slipped out of the Giro race leader's maglia rosa during her TT ride but fans mobbed her on the road after her three stage wins this week (Photo: Marco Alpozzi)
Elisa Balsamo (Lidl Trek) may have been slipping out of the Giro race leader's maglia rosa during her TT ride, but fans mobbed her on the road after her three stage wins this week.
At one point during the 12.7km mountain TT to Nevegal, no fewer than 14 fans ran alongside her, making for such a packed group around her they nearly collected another spectator standing by the roadside.
The group was waiting for Balsamo, who egged them on by taking out a bidon for them as she approached.
"As expected, it was a really hard stage," said sprinter Balsamo, who finished 123rd, some 9:13 down on stage winner, and new race leader, Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-Protime).
"But I need to say, it was the TT that I enjoyed most in my life, it was really nice with all the people on the climb. It was amazing, honestly," Balsamo added.
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She encouraged any young riders who were watching her in recent days as she won the three stages and led the race to "dream big". Wearing the maglia rosa "was a dream when I was a child and now it's reality, so dream and work hard".
And while the heavens opened during the TT, she was happy with how she negotiated it.
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"I was lucky because, at least at the beginning on the first technical part, it wasn't raining. And on the climb, it's not a big difference, with or without the rain."
She added keeping the points classification leader's jersey - which Ireland's Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) was minding for her in recent days - was "the big goal".
She believed Wednesday's stage 5 in the mountains would be very hard, as it was a day for the general classification riders.
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Balsamo delighted this group of fans wait on the roadside to run along with her after taking out a bidon to give to them (Photo: Marco Alpozzi)
The fans were determined to pay homage to the Italian rider leading the Italian Grand Tour (Photo: Marco Alpozzi)
A spectacular shot of Giro d'Italia maglia rosa Balsamo during the TT by phtotographer Marco Alpozzi
