Interview: Sarah Gigante Finishes Third Overall At Giro

Pocket rocket Aussie professional Sarah Gigante epitomises the never-say-die attitude, the 24yo seemingly impervious to the many challenges she has faced over the years.

Riding for AG Insurance–Soudal, Gigante is recently raced her first women’s Giro, the famed 8-day, 920km stage race, second only to the big one, the Tour de France Femmes coming up later in July.

In the best result of her career, Sarah finished on the podium, third overall after two standout climbing performances in the challenging race.

Victorious on stages 4 and 7 – the most challenging climbs of the entire race, with 7 being the queen stage – Gigante clearly cemented her position as one of the world’s top GC contenders.

“I can’t believe how well this week went,” said Gigante. “I never expected this. My main concern was just being able to compete again without pain.”

Prior to the Giro, Ride On caught up with the former Australian champion who explained the challenges and frustration of an extended period away from racing.

Thanks for speaking with us Sarah, first up can you give a recap of the Tour de Suisse, and how you prepared for your first big event back after surgery and rehab?

It took about seven months to return to racing after my surgery in early December. It was a long and serious rehab process. I started with no exercise at all, and then when I was allowed to introduce some walking, I had to keep my heart rate under 80 beats per minute and make sure not to go too far. 

A few weeks included alternating walks and elliptical sessions, all still under 100 beats per minute, and then I was finally allowed to start riding at just under 2 months from the surgery. 

Even then, it was only every second day, on a gravel bike, and very restricted in terms of duration and intensity.

It has certainly been a long road back to full training and then racing, but I had absolutely incredible support from the Victorian Institute of Sport, my coach Dylan Lindsey, my lovely Mum and my patient team, so it was not too bad, knowing every day was bringing me closer and closer to my goals.

How long were you away from World Tour racing?

Ten months, from the Tour de Romandie early last September until Tour de Suisse in June.

Detailing the situation to her Instagram followers, Sarah wrote –“This is not the post I was expecting to share, but unfortunately, I was diagnosed with iliac artery endofibrosis last Monday. Coming into the Aussie summer is usually my favourite period of the whole year, but this time it has been a real struggle for me, both mentally and physically. For a long time now, I’ve had a dull ache at rest in my right leg, but this then increased to brief numbness at max intensity on the bike ….” 

Sarah Gigante

During your rehab from surgery we read you dislocated a shoulder, can you tell us more?

Yeah, I had a nasty accident and unfortunately dislocated my right shoulder quite badly. 

The initial pain was severe, but thankfully, after a few days it was already manageable and didn’t really affect my training too much, apart from that I had to ride inside on Zwift for a full four weeks and of course adjust my gym exercises so that I didn’t need to use my arms. 

I was still doing over 20 hours per week on the ergo, and even managed multiple 6-hour pace partner rides, so I came out of this month even fitter than I started it.

Then to finally race WorldTour and wear that Red QOM Jersey at the Tour de Suisse– can you tell us about the significance of this?

It was quite a nice surprise to be feeling so strong. I didn’t think I would stack up against the best riders as well as I did, since I finished last season struggling with my leg and my power quite a lot, which meant my confidence in even my climbing took quite a hit. 

Although I saw my numbers were good in training this year, I still didn’t really know what to expect after the operation when it came to racing against riders like Vollering and Reusser. 

Wearing that red QOM jersey on Stage 2 was also my first time wearing a special jersey in a UCI race, so it was a cool bonus even though our main focus was on a good GC result for the team.

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The main thing is you’re back, but it will still be a big step to line up for the Women’s Giro or Tour de France femmes – can you tell us if this is looking likely?

 My next focus is the Giro, which has a more favourable course for me and is a race at which I’m very excited to debut. 

However, even though I don’t like the parcours quite as much at the Tour this year, it is such a special occasion for every rider, and I really enjoyed my time there in 2024. 

I do love the look of Stage 8 and certainly hope I can line up in the squad. My teammate Kim Le Court has been flying this year and I’m sure she will have top form there, and is going in as our leader.

When you think about the next few years, what are your main career goals?

I would say that I don’t actually have one main career focus and instead prefer to focus on each opportunity I’m given, whether it’s at the Tour Down Under, Tour de Suisse, the Giro or Tour de France. 

However, in saying that, the Olympics, World Championships and Tour de France Femmes are the three races that mean the most to me in terms of both prestige and being able to fulfil my childhood dreams.

Talking about the TDF Femmes, at a recent event we attended Matthew Keenan said ‘Sarah Gigante is the most likely Aussie to win the yellow jersey at the Tour’ – your comments?

That is very nice of Matt! There are lots of amazing Australian riders so I think it’s an exciting time to be a fan. To have the yellow jersey on the shoulders of any Australian would be incredibly special, so I hope that it happens soon.

Yours has been the most extraordinary career, and it’s still very early days – what is your primary goal, what would you like your palmares to include in say 5 years?

My primary goals are to keep growing as a rider and a person, while retaining and sharing my love for the sport. 

Any further comments for Ride On readers and your supporters back home?

Thanks for all the support and for following along! I really appreciate the cheering and late nights from the Aussies back home.

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