Ilaria Sanguineti: “At the Giro d’Italia without the need to come out”

She came to the bicycle because she liked her older brother’s team uniform. He was nine and never left her. Ilaria Sanguineti, born in 1994, born in Sanremo, is at the start of the 32nd Tour of Italy Women from 2 to 11 July, live on the digital platforms of PMG Sport / Starlight which for the first time is the organizer, on Rai Sport HD and Eurosport. 144 athletes from the best 24 teams in the world for a course of over 1,000 kilometers between Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

It starts with the team time trial from Fossano to Cuneo.

Ilaria hopes to win one of the 10 stages, perhaps the one closest to home. «I am motivated and there are stages that I particularly like the one around the lake of What close to where I live. It is my eighth Giro d’Italia and the one that seems to me more balanced and therefore more open ». Maybe a victory like his cycling idol Peter Sagan (the universal one is Francesco Totti), someone who is not afraid of anything on a bike. “I’m a little crazy like him,” she says.

Certainly she is sincere and fearless. “I’m not Ilaria in love with a girl, I’m Ilaria in love. It is the feeling that matters. I have never had problems with the judgment of others on my sexuality as on the rest, but there are many prejudices and many girls who are unable to admit it to themselves for fear of the judgment of others “.

For her, no problem in my sport and not even in the family. “My parents have always put up with me and supported me. They always thought about my happiness. If Ilaria likes a girl, Mum Vania is happy because Ilaria is happy. I didn’t even have to say it to my mother, it didn’t help to come out. If others want to judge me, let them do it too. I live as I want ».

She has done this since she was a child. «Before riding a bicycle, I did all the sports in the world. My main sport was speed skating. Then I played football, even though my father, who also played, didn’t want me to. I was nine when I started cycling. My brother said one day he wanted to ride a bicycle. He started with a team from Bordighera and when he came home with the uniform I liked it very much. The colored uniform, not the bicycle ».

In the end, he chose the toughest sport of all, at least two hours of cycling a day and 70 races a year. “I wake up in the morning and tell myself I don’t want to go out. Then maybe I do four hours of training. Cycling turns your day right even when it starts wrong. As soon as you pass the finish you say it was worth it. When we are on our bikes, we jokingly tell the girls not to be cyclists. In reality it is a beautiful sport in which great friendships are created ».

There is still a long way to go with men’s sport. “If I ask who it is Cristiana Girelli, bomber of the Italian women’s football team, it is difficult for a friend of mine to know who she is. The same if I ask a man who follows football. The difference is still here and cycling, like all women’s sports, is less valued. Combining men’s and women’s races would bring many more spectators. For the tour of Flanders you can do the women’s arrival in the morning and the men’s arrival in the afternoon. With so many people to see you, you build walls without feeling fatigue ».

And in the future there is always cycling. «My secret dream is to open a bar on the lake based on the bicycle». However, it is difficult to earn a lot with cycling for women. Showing it more also has the goal of a wider and more remunerated professionalism. Roberto Ruini, founder of PMG Sport and General Manager of the Giro d’Italia Women explains: «Our goal as organizers, shared with FCI and UCI, is to give maximum prominence to this great sporting event with all the means at our disposal. The value and beauty of this race deserve it, an undisputed heritage that deserves the right attention and particular care, just as its audience deserves it ».