Just when it seemed that the racing interval was long enough for Sara Gigante and she was ready to wear the number again, the Movistar rider tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, delaying her return to the peloton.

The 21-year-old had not raced since the July 2021 Olympics. The Victorian rider will compete in the Mitchelton Tour of Gippsland starting Sunday, February 13, and the 160km Rochard Energy Women's Warrnambool Classic national road series on Sunday, February 20, in Australia. She had planned to return to racing. However, she is now quarantined with COVID-19 and her race restart will be postponed for at least 7 days.

"I am saddened that I will not be on the start line this week," said Gigante in a Facebook post from the Tour of Gippsland."

"However, I will be watching the race closely from my isolated location, checking results and seeing how my friends and competitors are doing in Gippsland.

Gigante was training with her new team in Spain earlier this year, but after returning to Australia, she decided that the NRS race would be a good stepping stone to a return to the pro peloton and a spot on the Movistar Ladies World Tour.

There is still hope that Gigante will participate in an NRS race before returning to Europe, with the first edition of the stand-alone Women's Warrnambool Classic remaining a possible option.

"I'm disappointed. The timing is not good," Gigante said of her positive test and her resulting inability to compete in the Tour of Gippsland.

"But I'm feeling fine and will follow all the guidelines to be able to return within a week."

It has been a confusing couple of seasons for two-time Australian time trial champion Gigante. The athlete jumped out of juniors in 2019 and won the Australian road race title in his first combined U23 and elite event, then signed with TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting closure of the Australian border held her back, and in 2021 she not only had to face myocarditis, but when she competed in the Olympics, a fall in Flèche Wallonne in April left her with a collarbone, elbow, and fibula He had just returned from a three-month injury layoff after suffering fractures to his collarbone, elbow, and fibula in a fall at Flèche Wallonne in April. Nevertheless, he finished 11th in the time trial at the Tokyo Olympics.