(l’ultimo cambio ⭢ leggi qui )
Is it really time?
This weekend I’ll race my last Madison. Unbelievable.
I never thought I would get to this point. Mostly because, even if I had stopped racing at a professional level, I always believed I would still keep riding on the track, just for the joy of it. And Madison has always been my favorite discipline. The one where I felt most at home. The one where I did my best things.
Madison is the race through which I met my best friend, the one I shared victories and defeats with. It’s the race that got me into the national team. The race where I won a World Cup silver medal in 2022. Something that, if you had told me a few years earlier — when I was studying, working and racing all at the same time — I would have never believed possible.
When I was younger, I never dreamed of becoming a professional cyclist. I didn’t have that kind of ambition. I simply realized, year after year, that while everyone else was stopping, I kept pedaling.
I was never paid to do it.
But I always raced at the highest level, against athletes for whom this is a job.
And I always treated it like a job, even when it wasn’t paid. Because for me it was — and has always been — what made me happy, what made me feel like I was doing the right thing, in the right place, at the right time.
This will be my last Madison, and it will inevitably feel Sweet and bitter at the same time. Because it marks the end of a huge chapter of my sporting life. Of a deep love for the track and for a race that gave me so much. Joining the national team. Two World Cups. More than five hundred races over the past seven years.
Looking back, all I can feel is gratitude.
In all those races, every time I lined up for a Madison, I felt at home. Whether I was racing with my best friend, with someone I had just met, with a young rider, with someone more experienced or stronger than me — I always felt like I knew exactly what I was doing.
In that race I built an enormous amount of experience. I may have become one of the few true specialists left, and I’m genuinely proud of that. One day, I would love to pass on this passion and this knowledge to someone else.
For now, I just want to enjoy this last Six Days weekend.
This kind of racing I’ve lived for over the past seven years. The races that made me fall in love with track cycling. The races that, in their own way, also allowed me to keep going.
With this weekend, a huge chapter will close.
I know I’m ready for what comes next, but I also know that nostalgia will follow. And every time I watch a Madison, I’ll probably think about how much I would love to be there, riding laps again.
At the same time, I’m honest with myself. I know I’m no longer competitive. And as hard as it is to admit, the time has come to say goodbye to this race I’ve loved so deeply.
I want to do it with a smile.
Enjoy the last laps.
And then learn how to love it from the stands.
From there, I’ll truly begin working on my new path as a sprinter.
Francesca Selva 