Today, Clara Emond is one of cycling’s most-exciting rising stars, and a winner of one of the season’s most daring raids: a 40km solo attack at the Women’s Giro d’Italia. But only two years ago the Canadian was still being taught the very basics of bike racing.
“My first race in Europe was in June 2022 [the Alpes Gresivaudan Classic] and when we got to the first KOM during the race, I had no idea that it was the first one up the hill; I thought it was a Strava segment and the goal was to set the fastest time!” the EF-Oatly-Cannondale rider laughs. Nine days later, she raced up Mont Ventoux, finishing 14th. “All of my teammates were saying, ‘Marta Cavalli is here’, but I had no clue who she was. I was super naive as to how everything worked.”
The reason behind Emond’s blissful ignorance was that until 2021 she’d never raced a road bike. “I don’t even remember riding my bike to see my friends when I was a kid,” the 27-year-old says. Before that, she spent 12 years as an Alpine skier and has been studying Bachelor, Bar and Master’s degrees in law since 2016. Cycling was not meant to happen, but now it has, Emond has the grandest of ambitions. “I want to become one of the best and I’m convinced I can if I put all of my efforts in,” she confidently predicts.
Hailing from just outside of Québec City in the French-speaking part of Canada, Emond, like so many of her compatriots, grew up on a winter routine of skiing. “I ski raced from 5 to 17, and while in high school I was at an elite level,” she reveals. “My main goal was to get selected for the Olympics.” But one too many crashes and a slow disenchantment from the sport that she puts down to “probably starting too young in it” resulted in her hanging up her skis the year before she went to university. “My priority was skiing and then it switched completely: I wanted to become a lawyer,” she says, choosing the profession her father, Jeane-François, works in.
From 2016, she attended Québec’s Laval University, and in September 2020 she began a six-month internship with Fasken, one of the biggest law firms in Canada. “I wanted the best and biggest intern job and went to many dinners with different firms and had a lot of interviews. I was so excited when I got it,” she says. “But once she got her foot in the door, the reality was a lot different. “I ended up hating it really bad,” she sighs. “I really enjoyed law, especially…