Chloe Diggart was the forgotten woman of pro cycling this year. The Canyon-SRAM Racing rider competed on the road just once, at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in late February, after an illness ruined her season.

He crashed into a guardrail at the 2020 UCI World Championships in Imola, suffering an 80 percent tear in his left quadriceps muscle and undergoing multiple surgeries.

However, the latest surgery, performed in August, aimed at removing scar tissue and allowing greater muscle function, paid off.

"The past surgeries made a difference," she told VeloNews (open in new tab). 'I no longer have pain when I stand up, or get in and out of the car, or any of the little aches and pains of everyday life. I was in pain and I thought my life was like that, but with this last surgery, it's all gone. I have no pain and I couldn't be happier."

The leg injury threatened her cycling career and led to a lengthy rehabilitation. Last August, after winning a bronze medal as part of the U.S. Olympic Team Pursuit, she underwent surgery to remove a mass of scar tissue.

Dygert returned to training but contracted the Epstein-Barr virus soon after the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad race. She therefore elected to miss the remainder of the 2022 season and undergo further surgery in the summer.

"I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do, but that's another thing I can't control," she said of the past two years.

In Daigert's career, success was often followed by injury adversity. But she took an important step toward competition on November 11, when she ran on the track for the first time in 10 months at the 7-Eleven Velodrome in Colorado Springs.

Daigert, a seven-time world champion on the track and the 2019 road world time trial champion, is focused on making up for lost time. She said, "I'm working hard in every way I can, on and off the bike, to make sure next year is a good one."

The 25-year-old's 2023 schedule is not yet set, but she plans to mix road and track races in hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics; she plans to compete in at least two UCI Track World Cup events; and she plans to compete in the 2025 Olympics in Paris.

In June, Dygert also said the Tour de France Femme Avec Zwift was his "big goal. It has been announced that a 22km time trial will be added to the race route next year, and her goal is to make her debut in this race as soon as her health permits.