While most of the Spring Classics contenders will be resting after the Tour of Flanders, Elisa Balsamo will head home to Italy to graduate in modern literature in Turin.
The former World Champion and Trek-Segafredo rider has revealed that she dreams of a second career in journalism, telling La Gazzetta dello Sport, "It would be nice to be a TV commentator."
Balsamo is studying History of the Italian Language and her thesis is called 'Languages and Variants of Giovanni Testori's book Il dio di Roserio.' Testori is a well-known Italian writer, journalist, poet, art and literary critic, dramatist, and playwright.
"A novel about a bicycle race is very nice for me because it allows me to mention cycling at an important moment in my life. Studying helps me take my mind off fatigue and allows me to build a second professional path," Balsamo explained.
"I was also able to dispel the Turin saying - se sali sulla Mole, non ti laurei - I did it, and I am ready for the thesis discussion."
Balsamo references to the phrase - 'if you get on the Mole, you don't get a degree' - a well-known legend of the Mole Antonelliana, a landmark building in Turin. A superstition among university students is that one should never climb to the top of the spire or even look at the tip before graduation or during exams because it will bring bad luck in their studies.
In her humanities studies, Balsamo said she relates most to Ulysses and the search for adventure throughout her own travels.
"I would like to travel around the world to discover new places," she said.
She revealed that following the Trek-Segafredo get together this winter in Chicago, she travelled by car with her partner to Miami, taking in the tourist areas along the way.
"We covered about 4,000km as adventure. We hadn't booked anything. It was me, Davide [Plebani], a car and a paper guidebook. Three weeks without internet. In the future, my dream is to go to Easter Island."
Balsamo won the road race world title at the Road Worlds in Leuven in 2021 and was part of Italy's team pursuit squad that won the world title at Track Worlds in 2022.
She begins her 2023 season with the UEC Track European Championships (February 8-12) and then joins her Trek-Segafredo team for her road debut at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana later in February.
"I have fun on the track and consider the indoor activity complementary to the road. It will be the first event for Olympic qualification, so we are keen to do well. We'll also race in the rainbow jersey, which is an extra stimulus," she said.
Balsamo has a golden week during the Spring Classics last year, where she won Trofeo Alfredo Binda, Brugge de Panne and Gent-Wevelgem.
She will not ride Paris-Roubaix on April 8, a race she was disqualified from last year, but she will be targeting the Tour of Flanders the weekend before on April 3.
Following her thesis presentation Balsamo will then turn her attention to preparations for the Tour de France Femmes. Looking further ahead, she remains focused on competing at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
"I start at Valenciana, then the northern classics with Flanders the big target. Then I hope to ride the Tour," she explained.
