Sara Casasola has made a breakthrough. The Italian cyclocross rider secured her first-ever elite podium in the Tábor Cyclocross World Cup. She only had to concede to Lucinda Brand, but it wasn’t easy. Casasola admitted afterward that she was still feeling under the weather.
Casasola stayed right with Brand until the very final stretch, but fell slightly behind in the last lap. "Honestly, I hoped to be closer to the win, but I slipped a bit near the technical zone and lost a small gap. Lucinda was already very fast, so I couldn’t close the distance," said the Crelan-Corendon rider. "I'm happy with second place since it’s my first World Cup podium."
Until now, fourth place had been Casasola’s best World Cup result. She had finished fourth three times (Antwerp 2024, Namur 2023, and Troyes 2023), but a top-3 finish had eluded her until Tábor.
Notably, the Italian wore a buff around her neck in the cold Tábor conditions. After a crash at the European Championships, she had to withdraw from Niel and later suffered from a respiratory infection. She was still battling this upon her return in Tábor. "That’s why I had low expectations today, as I’m still recovering. My legs feel good, but my breathing wasn’t 100% yet."
"So I started slower than usual and could catch up thanks to tactical racing. But I think the illness is almost gone," she laughed. "The buff felt a bit strange, but yesterday during reconnaissance I was coughing a lot because of the cold. The virus weakened my lungs a bit, so I wanted to keep warmer and that really helped."
