Sarah Gigante won't be part of AG Insurance Soudal's Giro d'Italia Women team after all, as the long wait for her latest return to racing from a fractured femur suffered last August continues, her team confirmed on Thursday.
A double stage winner and GC podium finisher in last year's race, Gigante was supposed to make her comeback at La Vuelta Femenina earlier this month before racing at the Giro, but both appearances were cancelled with more recovery time required.
"Sarah Gigante impressed at last year’s Giro Women with a strong performance, finishing 3rd overall in the general classification, winning the QOM jersey, taking the team classification together with her teammates and climbing to two stage wins," read a press release on the team's website.
Latest Videos From
"She will unfortunately miss this year’s edition as she continues her recovery from a femur fracture, which still requires time and rehabilitation before a return to competition is possible."
In their star climber's absence, the Belgian team will be made up of Lore de Schepper, Justine Ghekiere, Ilse Pluimers, Julie Van De Velde, Gladys Verhulst-Wild, Mireia Benito and Urška Žigart, with the latter two representing their best GC hopes.
Gigante sustained her injury in a training crash after the most successful season of her career, having also finished sixth overall at the Tour de France Femmes and finished second on the queen stage behind eventual winner Pauline Ferrand Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike).
She's no stranger to setbacks, though, having been kept out of action for long periods several times throughout her career due to illnesses, injuries and iliac artery endofibrosis, with almost all of her seasons as a pro being abbreviated.
Gigante got back on her bike in December and has been slowly building ever since, including at team training camp in February. Speaking to the media after that block in Spain, she confirmed that this setback has been the hardest, and was made more difficult watching her teammates race while she was forced to sit out.
"I would never have chosen to go through all the setbacks, but they have taught me things," Gigante told Cyclingnews in February at AG Insurance Soudal's team presentation.
"This has been the hardest one, but I think from what I've learned the other times, it's made it easier than it would have been, and I think the number one thing is for sure not being afraid to ask for help, and really relying on the people around me.
"The team has been so supportive as well, so making sure I'm surrounded by the right people, that's for sure been key, and also patience. I'm quite impatient already, like I was dying at camp when I couldn't do the full training lengths of the other girls, or some girls were already out racing at Valencia, and I was just watching them from my room.
"I love racing, so patience has been hard for me. I really wanted to race the Australian summer, and I couldn't, so that's something that I am still not perfect at, but for sure, patience has been something I've learned, and there will always be another race."
Gigante's return was originally planned for March before she revealed it would instead likely be in May. With both of those dates now passing, patience will remain key for her to get back to the peloton, but her mindset was already in a good place at the start of the season.
"It has been a long rehab, longer than I thought, harder than I thought, but now I'm in a good place. I've had a lot of support from both AG Insurance Soudal and the people back home looking after me at the Victorian Institute of Sport, so I'm super lucky in that regard," said Gigante back in February.
"I wouldn't recommend breaking your femur, though. It has been hard, both physically and mentally, but now I'm feeling really excited. It's so good to be back with the team, and I feel like I've gone from rehab to finally training and feeling like a cyclist rather than a patient."
Gigante had been preparing specifically for the roads of the Giro, reconning parts of the route with the team in March, and even singling out the stage 4 uphill time trial to Nevegal as an exciting prospect for her characteristics as a pure climbing specialist.
This delay to her return will require a change to those goals, but with any luck, Gigante will be back racing before the Grand Tours are over for 2026, with her final chance being at the Tour de France Femmes at the start of August.
No races are currently on her programme, however, but even earlier in the year – when she was just training endurance and not intense efforts – Gigante knew nothing would be certain when it came to the timing of her return.
"The team really just wants to give me all the time possible and more to come back super strong and to the races that suit me," she said. "So I just have to wait a little bit longer to fit on a number, but hopefully when I do come back, then it'll be full gas."
Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our Giro d'Italia Women coverage. Don't miss any of the breaking news, reports, and analysis from one of the biggest women's stage races of the season. Find out more.
