I’m Elena Bissolati, I’m 27 years old, and I’ve been cycling since I was 7, thanks to my older brother who paved the way for me. I practiced other sports besides cycling, but cycling has always been a constant in my life, while basketball, volleyball, and swimming were more like leisure activities.
As a youth rider, I started racing on the track—and it was love at first sight. I combined road and track disciplines up to the junior category (ages 17–18), but due to my strengths and the nature of fast-paced events, I eventually had to set aside road racing.
As a junior, I won two gold medals at the European Track Championships in 2014 and 2015, along with a silver and a bronze in the same years.
I continued road racing up to the 2022 season, making it to the highest level – the Elite Women’s professional category. In 2023, I decided to take on a new challenge: piloting a Paralympic tandem bike! This discipline is quite complex, as both athletes must work in sync, in complete harmony and trust, to achieve a strong performance.
This new challenge immediately proved to be a positive one. Together with my partner Chiara Colombo, a visually impaired athlete, I won the Italian National Road Championship title.
Track racing with the tandem also brought success: we earned a silver medal at the World Championships in Glasgow, UK, alongside Meroni, Stefani, and Francesco Ceci.
