Marta Cavalli knows what being at cycling’s top table feels like. She’s been there, tucked in happily among the elite, a winner of major races, a contender in Grand Tours, and talked about as a candidate to win the Tour de France Femmes. She also knows what being at the opposite end of the spectrum is like: injured, down, out – very out, in fact – fearful of the present and future, entrenched in a position where hope is in short supply. At the peak of her powers, in the summer of 2022, she crashed out of the maiden Tour de France Femmes with multiple fractures, and then two training ride crashes in 2024 restricted her to just five race days last season. Unsurprisingly, the Italian is a different woman for what she’s experienced.
“I think what’s happened in the last few years has changed my life, not just me, but also me as a rider,” the 26-year-old says. “A lot of things have changed. It was hard – the challenges were hard. I accepted it was hard, and I was really close to giving up, but I’m happy that I didn’t. I don’t want that fear beats me.” At times, though, it did cripple her.
“When you risk too much, you start to be more conservative, and you always try to protect yourself. When I was in a dangerous situation in the race, sometimes my instinct would tell me to get to a safe position, to stay far from danger, but this didn’t help me. Now I think I have a new vision and will try to come back one more time.”
In an attempt to draw a line in the sand, to mark the difference between before and after, Cavalli has switched teams, leaving FDJ-Suez after four years and joining Picnic PostNL on a three-year contract. She’s ambitious, she always has been and always will be, but she won’t make grandiose statements about her aspirations. If her past two years have taught her anything, it’s that winning bike races isn’t everything.
“I have a new mentality. Before I was afraid about the result, I lived for the result, and I think it was the one and only gratification I could receive, but now when I have touched the lowest point of my life, I have started to appreciate the small things,” she says. “Of course I have fears, I have doubts, but I would like to enjoy this comeback, because in my mind this is a second chance at cycling. I don’t feel like it’s the same cycling – for me, it’s different, because now I appreciate more what I have had in the past. It’s a bit philosophical.” It is, but it’s understandable.
“Before, success and winning was everything and now it’s different: winning is still a priority, but it’s not the main priority.”
As a reminder, at her best, Cavalli can be devastating; few climbers can keep pace with her. If Picnic PostNL get the best version of the Italian, they’ve got a guaranteed race winner, in the Classics, in the Grand Tours and in smaller races. She speaks about her changing approach and it’s certainly an attempt at lowering people’s expectations of her, but she’s still a race winner, and now she’s got even more incentive to lift her arms in the air. Not throwing in the towel, she says, “was possible because of the people that really took care of me. They stayed by my side in this moment and were the best help possible, and they allowed me to take time, to also take revenge.”
What does revenge look like? “It’s a hard question. I think me, Picnic, the team, we like challenges. We want to try to see where I can go. The first goals should be to come back to the races, and then we will think about goals, results and expectations. First of all, I want to be a good rider in the team, to feel like an aggressive rider again, to smell the race, to really want to push 110% because I want the result. Of course, Marta at her 2022 level, was a really good rider, but we don’t know if I will be able to achieve this level again, or if I can be better. If we will find the key to come back and to win again, I will be the happiest person in the world, and I think the team also. But if not, I will be happy, because at least I was able to beat all my fears and come back.”
