During the first few stages of the Giro d’Italia Women, there was one name that continuously came to the fore. Not race leader Elisa Longo Borghini, nor her closest GC rival Lotte Kopecky, but former Brazilian national champion Ana Vitória “Tota” Magalhães.
The 23-year-old, riding for the Italian Continental outfit Bepink-Bongioanni, spent the second stage of the race in a two-up breakaway with Alessia Missiaggia of Top Girls Fassa Bortolo. The pair built up a gap of over five minutes before Magalhães dropped the Italian in her hunt for Queen of the Mountain points with 32km to go.
“I didn't imagine how it would end up. Of course, that was a stage that I was looking for, thinking about the QOM jersey, that maybe if the breakaway had some time gap, I could have the QOM jersey for at least one day,” Magalhães explained, speaking to Rouleur after stage six. “But then in the middle, I started believing that I could win.”
After dropping Missiaggia on the climb, Magalhães fought to hold her gap with the stage win in mind. “It was like 'oh, there are probably so many WorldTour teams trying to catch me. But I'm just going to keep my pace, my rhythm, and give everything I can. And if that's enough to win…’ I was thinking about that,” she said. “And also thinking: my family, probably they're crazy right now. And it was a little bit like maybe I can win, but also there's so many strong riders out there that can catch me, but I just kept believing.”
Magalhães was caught by a charging peloton with 1.8km to go, but had no regrets from her day spent out in front. She also achieved her aim of putting herself into the QOM jersey.
“That's my way of racing,” she explained. “And if the team gives me that freedom, I really like to attack. I'm much more of a person that attacks than defends, you know.”
Sure enough, Magalhães was on the attack again a few days later. After a day recovering from her exploits on stage two, the young Brazilian was back on the offensive the next day, jumping on a move from eventual stage winner Clara Emond (EF Education-Cannondale).
“I didn't want to go to the breakaway because I was a little bit tired,” she said. “But I saw that Clara was attacking, and I just jumped on her wheel. And we started to try to get the gap to increase. But I wasn't on my best day. I thought that maybe if I get to the first climb from that stage, I could already get the QOM jersey back, but it wasn't that day, I didn't have the legs for that, and Clara was too strong for me that day.”
Magalhães and the rest of the breakaway riders were eventually caught by the peloton while Emond went on to win the stage. Although she missed out on a victory, she is pragmatic in her outlook: “For sure, being in the QOM jersey for one day was a nice feeling that I hope I have more of it. Also, the win didn't come, but I know someday it will come. So this is stuff that I think about, and I guess it's helped me get motivated. But I'm not in a rush,” she said.
She may not feel any urgency, but her aggressive racing and determination are sure to have caught the eye of some of the WorldTour teams she knew were chasing her down on stage two. Has she been hoping to step up after this season? “Yeah, of course, I want that step up, but I'm not in a rush,” she said. “I know that I'll be there someday, I guess. If I put in the work and do what I'm doing in one or two years I'll be there. I hope so. Of course, I think about it. And I guess it's good that I think because then it keeps me motivated.”
Motivation is not something that the 23-year-old rider lacks. After two stages in the breakaway and a tough race so far, Magalhães still has her eye on one more possible chance: “I'm praying for my legs,” she laughs. “But I'm looking forward to the last stage. Tomorrow [Saturday] is going to be a GC stage, but in the last stage, maybe a breakaway can win. I'm looking forward to that. Maybe tomorrow, I'll keep it easy to see if I can have any opportunity on the last stage.”
Outside of personal success, Magalhães is motivated by the opportunity to inspire more young Brazilians to take up the sport. The only female Brazilian pro racing in Europe, she hopes to blaze a trail for others.
“I really try to be myself,” she said. “And if that's enough to inspire the new generation in Brazil I will be really, really glad to help. Brazil is such a big country and there's so much talent there. I know, right now, Brazil is like a soccer country, but it can also be a cycling country. So I hope when I'm out there, I inspire the new generation to keep believing to try to open new doors for them.”
Doors that, for Magalhães, were not so easily opened. A former football player, she decided one year to join her family’s Christmas tradition of cycling to the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, where she is from, “but my mum said that I needed to train for it,” she said. “So I started training and enjoying it and yeah, here I am right now.”
Still, after racing gran fondos and amateur races in Brazil, making the step to Europe was a difficult process for Magalhães: “I wanted to come to Europe to race here, but I didn't know how,” she said. “And also Brazil, it's a little bit...there was some doping background, so they don't have a good image, you know. So it was a little bit hard.”
Eventually, she found herself a spot on the now-defunct Spanish Continental team, Bizkaia Durango for 2023. At 22 years old she moved to Durango and lived in the team house with one other rider, “I didn't know how to speak Spanish so I learned. It was a good experience,” she said.
“Of course, it was different because I wasn't used to it. But then I was really motivated to learn and know how to race that made it easy. I think I was so happy about the opportunity that I didn't see the bad things about it, you know, just the good things.”
Although the team folded at the end of the season, they helped Magalhães find a ride for 2024. No longer living in Durango, Magalhães has based herself in Girona, a move that myriad other cyclists have taken before her. “They opened the door for me,” she said of Bizkaia Durango “and I'm glad I'm here, living my dream.”
After the Giro d’Italia Women, Magalhães will fulfil another dream: to represent Brazil at the Olympic Games in Paris. “To represent my country for a big event is something that I dream about a lot. Having the opportunity. I'm really glad,” she said. “I think I'll just see how this thing is when I'm there. Day by day, first Giro, then Olympics.”
Whether it’s taking on a charging peloton of WorldTour teams, moving countries, learning a new language or representing her nation at the Olympic Games, Magalhães approaches everything with a pragmatic but optimistic outlook. Her plan going forward, she said, is: “Being in the present, doing your work, and the good thing is that it only depends on me doing my work and enjoying racing and suffering and the rest I hope will come.”
