Kiara Fontanesi claimed victory winning FIM Women MX World Championhip Title for the 6th time, September 2018. Standing top of podium, showing pure elation of winning tightly contested WMX Series, under pressure and in front of home country fans, the achievement was so special, not just for Kiara, family and friends, but for FIM World MX Champions history records.
Fontanesi’s win of 6 WMX Championship Titles will stand test of time, as has the great Stefan Everts 10x World MX Champion set in 2006. Facts remain, winning 1 World MX Championship is hard enough, to consistantly pull off many more is amongst the highest level of sports persons in the World: Stefan Everts 10x, Antonio Cairoli 9x, Joel Roberts 6x, Kiara Fontanesi 6x and Roger de Coster 5x- to name top 6 in the World.
To win WMX Final Round at MXGP of Italy was massive. Fontanesi held slim 8 point advantage over Dutch rider Nancy van de Ven, with Nancy taking Race 1 win slicing points margin to 5. Kiara pulled off Race 2 win, claiming almighty victory of Final Round and Overall 2018 WMX Champion.
To race and win under pressure is true test of rider’s ability to collect focus, remain in sync: bike-rider-track, push through intensity and expectation levels to race own race for the win. And, Kiara proved all that. In following interview, Kiara speaks openly on what 2018 WMX Final Round was like pre-during and after racing and what’s in store for 2020.
#8: ‘Imola 2018 has been the best race and moment of my career so far! Winning the 6th Title there with so many people and familiar faces made the victory and celebration incredible. Something that every time I think back it gives me goosebumps. I will never ever forget that moment and regarding racing nothing will ever beat that memory!’
‘The moments pre-race had been easy, and exciting. I never really feel the pressure and I was quite relaxed, during the weekend. We had some problems with the bike (example Saturday race 1) that made it a bit complicated mentally. But even before Race 1 I was feeling the heavy weight of having such a big crowd around even if at the same time it gave me the power to win’.
‘Sunday morning I woke up fully relaxed and decided to use the other bike. I told my dad I didn’t even want to know anything about points situations in standings because I would have to go for the win!’
‘Indeed that was a special win. My mind was perfectly set, the bike was on point and I was feeling relaxed going into Race 2. I knew I had everything to win and that’s what I wanted to do in front of everyone -win the championship by winning the race and the GP. I wanted to sing the national hymn with all those people standing on top of the box. Post race moments were unforgettable and simply amazing. A relief, a pay back for all the days spent during many years of hard work!’.
With such recognition from fans across the world, Kiara would undoubtedly take time to re-focus on what the 25 year old has achieved over course of Women MX World Championship career. Logging in hours committed to training schedule, gym-sessions, practice track-time, racing WMX and Italian MX Championships, travelling to train at Sardinia- long, hot days riding in sand, to climbing rock faces just outside of Bologna- Kiara has strength of mind to achieve goals set.
#8: ‘For each of my victory’s I haven’t changed personally I have just been really happy and satisfied that all my hard work has paid off. Each victory has been different and unique’.
‘I know it has been really hard work and a lot of work to arrive at this point in my career but myself as well as my family in their jobs are hard working and dedicated. So they have raised me- showing that if I want something I need to work for it and go get it my own!’.
‘The road has been hard and easy at the same time. I’ve had to work a lot but the victory’s have made the work over the years a bit easier mentally. Even if I know I’ve been spending the last 10 years of my life working every-day for this, I would never change it!’.
Which brings full circle to 2019. Kiara’s decision to take year out- break from racing and make most important decision of her life to fall pregnant for the birth of her daughter in a couple of months time. Such a brave, courageous decision speaks volumes on what is most important to the WMX 6x Champion.
Racing many years at FIM World MX Championship level took heavy toll on Kiara’s health. With little room for stepping off the treadmill given Kiara’s personality to fully committ and engage in all on-track-and-off-track WMX rider duties, 2019 has been remarkable re-birth for the Italian. Enjoying peace of mind to focus on arrival of her own daughter, Kiara has relished time-out from hectic pace of WMX athlete status, ready to be back on bike for 2020 WMX season.
#8: ‘This year has been a healing and recharging year. Since almost two years I’ve been struggling with problems that doctors couldn’t really fix and for this reason I arrived beginning of this year in a really bad condition physically and mentally’.
‘I took 3 months off everything after the title last year but my body was still in shock and nothing changed. In January this year I started small training sessions. I was eating following the doctors advice but nothing changed and the result was: I gained so much weight’.
‘I had no power, struggled to focus and couldn’t see really well. As well my mind was really slow. For this reason I took the decision to step back, think about myself and my personal life. It was the right time to take care of myself and especially realize my biggest dream!’
‘Since then the pregnancy has been the perfect medicine for me (also what some doctors told me in the past). I started to feel good immediately. I lost 7kg and after the first 3 months which has been tough because of morning sickness I started to gain back power and feel better then before’.
‘For this reason now at almost 30 weeks of pregnancy I still weigh 1kg less then before I got pregnant. These months for me have been the best medicine I could ever have. I have taken time for myself to do things I never had the time to do and especially to relax and gain strength and power back’.
‘Now I’m just waiting for next 2 and a half months preparing for the biggest victory of all my life. Myself, my boyfriend and my family can’t wait to see her. Once I give birth I’ll will let my body recover a bit and jump back on the bike, because in 3 months I will have to be ready for the biggest challenge of my life which is to line up at round 1 of the world championship 2020!’
‘I have one dream left in my life, to show my daughter what the view looks like from the top of the podium. I have everything I need to do this- my boyfriend who will follow my training at the gym and my family/team ready to follow and support me as always. But my biggest motivation will be my daughter… I won’t fail now and I won’t give up’.
Special thanks, grazie to Kiara for her time, as always grateful, Sharon.
Words: Sharon Cox.
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