At just 22-years-old, Rossella Ratto has already accomplished a lot of envy-worthy results in the professional women's peloton. Now she's hoping her 2016 season with Cylance Pro Cycling, a new American-based team, will help her bounce back to the front of the peloton and back onto the top step of the podium.
At just 19, Ratto finished third in the 2013 World Championship Road Race won by Marianne Vos, finishing in Firenze just 15 seconds back in a two-rider group with Emma Johansson. It was an impressive follow-up to her first elite world championship road race the year before, when she finished sixth in Valkenburg, crossing the line alone nearly a minute ahead of the next chase group.
Ratto won her first professional race in 2013, taking the one-day Giro dell Emilia Internazionale Donne with a solo move. She won again in 2014 at the Women's Tour in Great Britain, where she out-sprinted fellow Italian Susanna Zorzi (Astana BePink) as Vos (Rabobank-Liv) led the field home six seconds later. She was third in Giro del Trentino that year, and then finished fourth overall at the Tour of Norway. Ratto also has multiple podium finishes in the Italian road race and time trial championships, and she finished 15th at the Fleche Wallonne World Cup in 2012.
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Those are a lot of world-class results to pack into just three years of racing for a rider who would still be eligible for the U23 ranks if the women had that age-graded category, but Ratto slumped during her 2015 season with Italian UCI team Inpa Sottoli Bianchi Giusfredi after productive seasons at Hitec Products and the Mexcian Faren Kuota team. She is hoping to turn things around with her new Cylance team, which has more experienced riders like Shelley Olds, Valentina Scandolara and Alison Tetrick to help guide her.
“It's something that I was looking for,” Ratto told Cyclingnews. “I missed that experience the last two years, and I think the results are clear. When I was at Hitec there were girls with experience and they could teach me a lot. They could help me in the races, because sometimes you make mistakes. They can be small, actually, but in the end that can make the difference. So now I'm beginning to find out new things again, new tricks from those guys. Anytime I need any help they are there, and I really appreciate it.”
When fellow Italian and friend Scandolara told Ratto about the new American team directed Manel Lacambra, Ratto jumped at the chance to climb aboard.
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