For most cyclists, winning races is out of reach, let alone multiple events, but Lorena Wiebes has been stringing together successes for years. In the winter edition of RIDE Magazine, the sprint phenomenon from SD Worx-Protime talks about her hunger for success, the chaos of professional cycling, and pushing her limits.
"In cycling, you go from race to race. That’s why I appreciate that in our team we always take a moment after each victory to just sit together calmly and toast. So that it doesn’t become normal to win so many races. Look, I won Milan-San Remo. But that same evening we’re already on the plane home or off to the next race. Thankfully, after the race, we were able to sit on a terrace with some girls who had a flight that evening. We considered changing our tickets but decided against it because a few days later was already Bruges-De Panne."
"Do I find it a shame that we rarely get to fully savor our successes? I think that’s part of it. And sometimes that’s also a relief when a race doesn’t go well. Then you can look ahead to the next opportunity."
Continuously challenging yourself
"Precisely because I’ve won so often, it seems almost normal. Sometimes people say that sprinting isn’t that hard, that you have to work much harder to ride well uphill. Ultimately, I have to survive the other stages in a stage race to be able to take that sprint victory. And in the Tour, I needed to survive those two Alpine days to win the green jersey. We sprinters train just as hard as climbers or classics specialists."
photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos
"Still, I want to be more than just a sprinter. That’s why I’ve also focused on the classics. I need that challenge. I think it will help me sustain my career in cycling longer. If I only focused on sprinting, at some point you’ve seen it all. Although, of course, I want to remain the number one in sprinting. I simply don’t want to lose. This year went really well, but next year I start again from zero."
