Mara Abbott stumbled into a career any athlete would envy, taking up cycling in college and vaulting into the professional ranks before she had even graduated.

The Boulder native, 27, began winning national races in her 2007 debut season and became the first American to win the prestigious Giro Rosa in Italy in 2010.

On July 7, she won the Giro Rosa a second time. After a year away from the sport, the victory was sweeter.

The year away was the result of Abbott’s failure to come to terms with a constant conflict she felt.

At heart, she was still the little girl who had posted “reduce, reuse, recycle” signs around her neighborhood in Boulder. Now she was flying to races around the world, wasting gasoline driving from stage to stage and shaking her head at the empty plastic bottles that accumulated at each event.

“I had all these aspirations of doing work in environmental sustainability that I felt were a little bit in conflict with cycling, because cycling is a really wasteful sport,” Abbott said. “I just wasn’t sure, in the world, what am I accomplishing by being this elite cyclist?

“But at the same time, you’re winning these races, and this is something everyone would dream of. How do you say that you’re questioning it?”

Abbott didn’t have an answer for her conflict, so she didn’t say anything. Instead, she slipped into an eating disorder, forcing herself away from the sport for the 2012 season.

She retreated from cycling quietly, moved in with a friend in Boulder and began getting healthy. She spoke regularly with her longtime coach, Dean Golich, and hoped for a moment of clarity.

“There’s a difference in how you live a life to be happy and how you live a life to be the best in the world at something,” Golich said of Abbott’s struggles. “You sacrifice a lot, and it’s not healthy.”

Though she struggled to reach elite status in years of competitive swimming, success in cycling came quickly. But now without a sport, Abbott taught yoga classes, worked with a personal trainer and got a job at a coffee shop. She got no closer to peace of mind.

“I thought I could quit cycling and solve all my problems,” Abbott said. “At the end of a year off, I still had all the same hang-ups, the same problems, the same angsty things that we all have. They were all still there, and I missed cycling.”

She got back into the sport and joined the Exergy Twenty16 team in 2013. She began her comeback cautiously, planning to skip the Giro Rosa. Yet by May, she couldn’t imagine not being at the race in Italy.

Abbott’s parents followed the race via Twitter updates from Italy and savored the victory after her year off.

“She had started cycling pretty young, and she was just talented and kind of got into it,” said Mara’s mother, Liz Abbott. “This was a very intentional comeback. In that way, it was very special that she won.”

Abbott said she has learned not to take anything for granted. Golich has noticed a difference in her attitude.

“Any setbacks or problems that would have been much more dramatic before, she kind of had a realization that that’s not as important,” Golich said.

Abbott can’t fully devote herself to environmental causes, but she’s taking steps to make a difference. She’s a member of Boulder’s Environmental Advisory Board and hopes to help promote the city’s green initiatives once the season quiets down this autumn.

Although professional cycling may not be environmentally friendly, using bicycles is, and Abbott hopes to encourage others to try it.

“It has to inspire people, because in and of itself, it’s very destructive,” Abbott said, “But if it can get people out on bicycles, that’s the good it can do in the world.”

She’ll get to saving the world later. For now, Abbott is enjoying her success.

“Having that sort of an experience, it really makes you take notice of those moments, because you don’t know how long it’s going to last,” Abbott said. “Having stepped away and made the conscious decision to come back made me so much more aware of why I was there.”

Caitlin Swieca: 303-954-1297 or cswieca@denverpost.com

Mara Abbott timeline

2005 Abbott joins the cycling team at Whitman College during her freshman year there. She wins the national collegiate road title four months later.

2007 Abbott turns professional during her junior year of college, joining the Webcor Builders team. In her first year, she wins the Tour of the Gila and the national road race championship.

2010 Abbott becomes the first American to win the Giro Donne (now the Giro Rosa) in Italy.

2012 Battling an eating disorder and discomfort over the wastefulness of professional cycling, Abbott quits the sport for a year.

2013 Abbott returns to cycling, joining the Exergy Twenty16 racing team and winning the Giro Rosa championship July 7.