An extremely unlucky first part of the season for Eleonora Ciabocco: the crash at the Trofeo Binda had caused her a concussion that forced her to miss the Ardennes. Back racing at the Vuelta Femenina, the talented rider from the Marche region with Picnic PostNL crashed on Monday in the second stage and this time fractures followed: 4 vertebrae (to be precise, the right transverse processes of D12-L1-L2-L3) and 3 ribs.

Examined immediately after the race at the medical center in Ourense, Spain, yesterday morning Eleonora returned to Italy and, on the advice of her agent Fabio Perego fully endorsed by the Dutch team, underwent thorough examinations by Dr. Cristiano Fusi at the San Martino clinic in Malgrate, near Lecco. The verdict: three days of complete rest, on Monday she will be able to start doing ten minutes on the rollers, then gradually increase without rushing depending on the pain she experiences.

It's not possible today to establish precise recovery times: it will depend on how her body responds. She will definitely have to miss the Giro Women, the dream would be to make it back for the Italian championships, a somewhat more concrete hope could come at the start of the Tour de France.

But this is not the time to set too many medium to long-term objectives. This is the time to recover at the right pace and perhaps take the opportunity to focus on activities that would not have been possible to fully pursue during the racing and training period. Such as university studies in natural sciences at the University of Camerino and supporting her fellow region-man (with whom she also shared the same physical education teacher when they were young) Giulio Pellizzari, who today begins a Giro full of ambitions.