Cycling, Paternoster after the crash at the Simac Ladies Tour in the Netherlands: ‘Saved by the helmet’

The Olympics was certainly not what Letizia Paternoster expected. In the quartet, despite the double Italian record, Balsamo and Guazzini went faster than her. In the Omnium, which had brought her two world silver, Elisa Balsamo raced in her place and in the Americana (Balsamo-Paternoster couple) there was the terrible fall of the Cuneo woman with the bike of an athlete who had passed her on the belly.

Letizia Paternoster’s summer therefore restarted on Tuesday from the street with the Simac Ladies Tour in Holland, a stage race of the World Tour that ends on Sunday after 6 stages, in anticipation of the European Championships in Trento and the double European and World Championships on track in October. But the 22-year-old from Trek-Segafredo was the protagonist of a very bad crash on Friday’s stage. She was on the left side of the lane when she touched an opponent and flew to the ground. “I was hoping for a different budget than the Simac Tour – says Paternoster -. And of course, not coming home with several cracked ribs, a severe shoulder bruise and a constant headache. I thank my helmet which literally saved my head. In Italy I will make further investigations and, for the moment, I am thinking of recovering. Thanks to all of you who have written and supported me ”.