Yesterday Chantal Pegolo lived a true and proper dream. At the finish line in Salice Terme, the Friuli rider from Team Isolmant Premac Vittoria crossed in third position, a special podium that crowns an entire day of attacking from the very first kilometers. Just a few months ago, racing the Giro was only a gigantic desire, she had told us about it on the occasion of her second consecutive victory at the Tuttobici Oscar as best junior girl, almost a utopia that she admired from afar, but which Chantal is now living fully, carving out for herself an incredible role as a protagonist.

The emotion is immense and initially disbelief risks taking over, immediately after the finish line she hugs her agent Fabio Perego and calls her dad on the phone, she absolutely must tell him that something crazy has happened. Chantal needs some time to realize what she has just done, a podium at the Giro after such a wild stage, who would have ever said it? but surely what madman could ever have imagined it? "I can't explain what happened, I'm really in shock and everything seems very crazy to me. This morning our team manager Giovanni Fidanza told us it would be our opportunity and I listened to him literally because I trust him blindly. We managed to gain 8 minutes, almost 9, from the team car he was encouraging me and when I asked him if the group was catching up he told me I had to keep going because it was the right opportunity. I'm only at my third World Tour race, just being in the group doesn't seem real to me and in each of these days I'm trying to keep my eyes open and learn as much as possible. In my entire life I've never done such distances and finding myself third after an entire day of attacking is something I could never have imagined." Chantal tells us with the naturalness of a girl who is doing what she loves and is literally living her childhood dream.

What impresses about Chantal Pegolo is her strength, her awareness of having so much to learn, but her unwillingness to give up. For her, who is in her fifth year of high school, it's a real somersault, once she returns home the final exams will be waiting for her, but in the meantime she lives her dream with those athletes she has always admired on TV. After the only climb of the day the group was just seconds behind, the adventure seemed over and instead the Friuli rider found herself living something she could never have imagined "When I found myself ahead with girls of the caliber of Elisa Longo Borghini and Silvia Persico and other big names it didn't seem real to me, it was crazy. Me, a first-year athlete, was ahead of the race with athletes of this caliber, I couldn't believe what was happening. I was really exhausted, I couldn't wait to arrive, but I had to keep believing and resist until the end. I know that in the group I'm the last to arrive, all the athletes are stronger than me, I still have so much to learn, but I understood that no matter what happens you must never give up. When I saw the 500 meters to go sign I told myself 'Chantal, this is your opportunity, you have to give everything, no regrets allowed'"

Around Chantal there is an outpouring of emotions, one by one her teammates come to congratulate her while the staff members try to realize what has just happened. In the account of the Friuli athlete there is one of those genuine emotions, of someone who grew up with sport and with a big dream that seemed impossible to achieve. It's not so easy to string words together also because tears seem to be just around the corner, every now and then Chantal lowers her gaze on her phone, as if to get further confirmation of what she has just accomplished. "I arrived at the Giro really tired, in fact I was even risking not starting at all. I had two terrible weeks, I was feeling bad and couldn't even train, facing a race like this was unthinkable, but the team wanted to give me confidence. I approached it as a learning experience, but it was immediately difficult, 4 days ago I was risking withdrawing, but I wanted to hold on, I had to repay my team somehow. Until yesterday I was crying from desperation and exhaustion, today I'm crying from joy."

Today will see the climb of Colle delle Finestre and Sestriere, two climbs that are symbols of cycling, another day in which Chantal Pegolo will add another brick to her big dream. No matter what happens, for her this Giro Rosa has already become special.

(Photo Carlo Monguzzi)