DEBORA SILVESTRI. «NOW I AM... REBORN AND I WANT TO PROVE MY WORTH»

INTERVIEW | 26/11/2024 | 08:15
di Giorgia Monguzzi
Debora Silvestri has now gotten used to misfortune, or we could easily say that for a few years she has even taken out a full subscription to it. Between crashes and teams closing down, the twenty-six-year-old Laboral team athlete had never been able to fully express herself or at least have adequate preparation to face the season at her best. However, 2024 finally went in a different direction, not that there weren't obstacles, but after a long time Debora was able to compete in the top category and express her idea of cycling. Talking to her is always something special, it's like delving into a world where everything is analyzed down to the smallest detail, but losing heart is not allowed. We equip ourselves with bags full of spirit and positivity and begin the journey into her cycling world.
"I'm quite satisfied with my season, especially with the type of races I participated in. I was able to face a high-level calendar for the first time, I was at the start of the three grand tours, which had never happened to me before. There's a bit of bitterness about the fall at the Vuelta and the physical problems at the Tour, but considering the misfortune of previous years, we're improving. It had been a long time since I felt this good, without setbacks, finally I am myself" explains Debora, stopping on that "finally" as if it were a true liberation. The past seasons were not in her favor at all, after a sparkling 2021 full of results, misfortune came knocking at her door a bit too often. In June 2022, a training accident had completely taken her out of the game, and the following year what was supposed to be a great adventure with the Spanish Zaaf team ended with the team's closure and a season practically thrown away. At Laboral, Debora not only found her smile again but finally also the first results that give her the right push to continue.
"It wasn't easy to get back on track, I worked hard to level up and I'm happy to have started collecting something. At the Tour de l'Ardeche I almost made the final podium, in that case too, as if by chance, due to a fall, but then finally in Spain at the Pioniera Race the victory came". What strikes you at first glance about Debora is her incredible positivity, her ability to see things from the right side, the strength to always get back up no matter what. There are those who after so much misfortune and so many falls would have given up, but she wanted to try again and again, with the awareness of being enriched by those obstacles and having learned.
"By nature, I'm a positive person, it's part of my character and I believe this has helped me a lot. For me, it was always a normal thing, then from the end of last year I started working with a mental coach who helped me understand how to leverage this, which is a strength. I've never liked losing heart, I've always preferred to see every defeat as a starting point, something to learn from. The Zaaf adventure at the beginning of 2023 was a great opportunity, unfortunately it didn't go well, but in return, I found another team that welcomed me with open arms. I also decided to return to Fabio, the trainer I had two years ago, we didn't change anything, we simply picked up where we had left off, despite the thousand obstacles, the determined Debora never went away."
She tells us how in the past year some things have changed that helped her regain serenity. Certainly, returning to the historic trainer who was already following her in the Fassa Bortolo years was the winning choice, and to this was added the decision to work with a mental coach to get to know and understand herself better, a help to try to give her best inside and outside the race. In Debora's change and growth, the Laboral Team certainly played a key role, the team that literally welcomed her in mid-2023 when she risked being left without a team. Within the Basque formation, she not only grew but found an environment that is like a family that allowed her to give her best.
"Laboral is a work environment, but also very familiar, Spaniards and Italians have many things in common and this makes everything simpler. In recent years the team has had incredible growth, sponsors have strongly believed in the project, allowing us to race all over the world - explains Debora - in 2024 I had the opportunity to race the northern classics, it was a crazy and truly stimulating experience, but above all I returned to the Giro, where I had been absent for several years. There's no real team captain, everyone has the opportunity to test themselves and prove their worth, and indeed at the pink race I was given the chance to show my cards, to test myself, but above all to grow". From 2025, the Laboral team will be enriched with two more Italian athletes: Laura Tomasi, Cristina Tonetti, and Debora Silvestri will be joined by Arianna Fidanza and Alice Maria Arzuffi, who will contribute to giving quality to a continuously rising project. "The team's goal is to become World Tour in 2026, it's an ambitious project, but I believe it's within their reach. Now the Italian athletes will be the same number as the Basque athletes, I think that's a fact that makes you think a lot". To understand Debora Silvestri's incredible strength, however, it is necessary to take a step back and look at who surrounds her. One glance is enough to see the strength of her family, led by mom Patrizia and dad Stefano, her number one fans who try not to miss even one of her races. We met them by chance, on the roads of an Italian open race, and immediately sensed their visceral passion for sports.
"My family is fundamental, they have always supported, supported, and put up with me. They have always had advice for me, but at the same time gave me the opportunity to be who I wanted, to manage myself, I think I inherited from them the way of always seeing the positive side of things. They are die-hard fans who try to always be there, last year they surprised me at the Tour de l'Ardeche, while this year they came up to Liège. For Italian races, it's forbidden for them to miss, during the Giro period my father even takes time off regardless to make sure he's there. Now my sister Martina is also running, she's 5 years younger than me but she's growing well, it would be nice to be able to race together one day".
After a 2024 of redemption, Debora is ready to face a new season in which to demonstrate, especially to herself, that she is ready to make the definitive leap in quality. "The goal is to finally find my dimension, but above all to have the courage to try more, to throw myself in once and for all. I would like to try to propose myself for stage races, demonstrate that I have a new endurance, but also for one-day races in the Ardennes that suit my characteristics and then there are always the Strade Bianche, which is my favorite race. If I were to set a goal, I would have no doubts: to be not only determined, but to no longer have any fear."