Eventually, it all clicked for Magdeleine Vallières Mill

Magdeleine Vallières Mill wasn’t sure she had understood her sport director fully. Before the team meeting ahead of January’s Trofeo Palma Femina, Carmen Small told Vallières Mill that it would be her day. To the domestique, that didn’t make sense. The day before, she, along with the rest of the EF Education-cannondale squad, helped Noemi Rüegg to take the win at Trofeo Felanitx-colònia de Sant Jordi. It was Vallières Mill’s usual role. So what could Small be talking about?

In the meeting, the rider heard the full plan. She was to save her legs for the first 92 km of the one-day race. Then, Vallières Mill was to ride aggressively. “I was told to trust my gut. If I felt like I needed to attack, then I should attack,” she said. Still, Vallières Mill wasn’t clicking fully on what was being asked of her. Usually, her attacks were in service of someone’s counterattack. Who was she riding for? “They said, ‘You’re in good form. We think you can do it,’” she said. “It was nice to have people believing in me like that. Then, the team just put me in the perfect position.”

On the descent of Coll Grau, Vallières Mill got away with Silvia Persico. The uae Team adq rider didn’t push the pace very much as she had some teammates making their way up to the duo. Eventually, the group totalled five, with three riders from uae Team adq. Vallières Mill felt that squad didn’t use its numbers to its advantage. And who can argue with the rider from Sherbrooke, Que.? In the end, she crossed the line solo for the win.

About a week after Trofeo Palma Femina, Vallières Mill looked ahead to the rest of the season. There’d be a lot more racing in Spain, and likely the Giro d’italia Women. At these events, she had a hunch the team would be on the lookout for more opportunities for her.