After her surprise victory in the Amstel Gold race the previous weekend, Marta Cavalli (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope) was one of the riders to watch in the second edition of the Paris-Roubaix fam. 24-year-old Italian lived up to the expectations, finishing in 5th place. But her race was not without its difficulties.

"I crashed once and then I had a puncture. But luckily I was able to get back to the first group and I pushed hard to celebrate and honor this race," Cavalli told Cycling News at the finish line.

Early in the race, she crashed on the opening circuit around Dunain, and to make matters worse, the crash broke the right shifter on her handlebars.

"I have to thank the mechanics because they replaced the shifter during the race. They replaced the shifter during the race. But they gave me my race bike back. I think I found the best way to thank everyone," Cavalli said.

Fifty-five kilometers from the finish, the Italian suffered a flat tire. But Cavalli never gave up.

"In this race, every moment can change the scenario. He said, "In this race, every moment can change the scenario. If you are strong and believe in yourself, you can always stay on top."

It took Cavalli 24 km to return to the first peloton, at which point Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) left in a race-winning solo run. Then Maelle Grossetetet suffered a puncture in sector 7, and Grace Brown, who had been working hard to close the gap to Longo Borghini, got away.

In this situation, she chose to save herself for the sprint for second place instead of contributing to the chase behind Longo Borghini. in a group of seven riders, Cavalli was fourth in the sprint, moving up four places from ninth in 2021 to fifth at the He crossed the finish line.

"When I came back, I was told over the radio that there was one lone rider in front of me. In the last kilometer, I was the only one in the group. There were two Trek riders and two SD Worx riders.