Maria Canins

Maria Canins, born on 4 July 1949 in La Villa in the Alta Badia valley, is an Italian former road racing cyclist and cross-country skier who competed across several endurance sports. She was a cross-country skier from 1969 to 1988, won Italian national titles fifteen times and became the first Italian to win the Vasaloppet in Sweden. She also won the Marcialonga ten times between 1979 and 1988. She began her professional cycling career at the age of thirty-two and won the Tour de France Féminin in 1985 and 1986 and the inaugural Giro d'Italia Femminile in 1988. She was part of the Italian team that won the UCI Women's Team Time Trial World Championship in 1988. She also raced mountain bikes, becoming a double world champion in that discipline, and won the World Triathlon Winter Championships in 1997 and 1999.