Unbreakable: The many comebacks of Sarah Gigante 🇦🇺
After a broken femur and a career marked by setbacks, the Australian climber is rebuilding once again, slowly, patiently, and with her love for cycling intact
Hi Subscribers,
There are comeback stories in cycling, and then there is Sarah Gigante's career.
Few riders have had to rebuild themselves as many times as the Australian climber, whose immense talent has repeatedly collided with a run of extraordinary setbacks, from crashes and surgeries to a broken femur that halted her final aims in 2025 and the start to this season. Not many riders can claim to have dislocated a shoulder in their sleep.
Yet if the injuries have tested her body, they have never dented her enthusiasm for the sport. Gigante still watches every race she can find, stretches broadcasts out by slowing the playback speed, and talks about returning to the biggest stages with the same conviction she had when she first arrived in Europe. Now deep into rehabilitation and working her way back toward racing, she is already plotting another reset, and what she jokingly calls “Sarah 4.0.”
In this exclusive interview, Gigante reflects on the long road back from her femur fracture, the painstakingly slow process of rebuilding fitness, and the remarkable list of setbacks she has navigated in recent years. More than anything, though, it’s a portrait of a rider whose love for cycling remains undimmed, no matter how many times she has to start again.
Daniel 🫶
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Daniel Benson: How are you generally, in terms of coming back from your femur break?
Sarah Gigante: It’s going smoothly now. There are still aspects that are slow, but I’m ticking along. I’ve started working with a team coach now, and I’m settling into that aspect. For a while, it’s all about endurance work, and then the team physio will come to Girona to put me through some testing. If that goes well, then I can start building up some intensity. Changing coach, it’s all in-house now. I’d been with the same coach since 2019, and apart from two years at Movistar, we’ve always worked together. We had a good relationship, and he was there for the ups and downs, but on the other hand, my new coach seems really awesome, and the other girls have all said he’s wonderful.
Daniel Benson: What boxes have you needed to tick since the crash and injury that set you back last year?
Sarah Gigante: There have been lots of little steps along the way, and little milestones. I started on the indoor bike, being super upright, and I think my first rides were only allowed to be 15 minutes at 50W, and then 15 minutes at 75W and then I got to go to 20 minutes. So it’s been super slow, but even before that, I was just walking up and down the pool. That was part of my first training sessions. I was also using a handbike in the gym, and just pedalling with my hands. I’ve got even more respect now for anyone who uses a recumbent. I found it so hard, I was going full gas, but my heart rate was at 80bpm because the strength in my arms and my cardio system just didn’t line up at all. I really wanted to get a good workout in and at least salvage some of my fitness, but I could just feel my arms burning, and there wasn’t even a single bead of sweat. That was a bit frustrating, but I do have stronger arms now, I have to say.
Daniel Benson: Was it hard, or frustrating in the sense that you had to be so measured and precise with what you could and couldn’t do? 50W really is a difficult regime to stick to.