This article was first published in Rouleur issue 136.
I learned how to be an athlete long before I learned how to ride a bike.
That might sound backwards in a sport where many pros were racing before their feet could touch the ground, but it’s precisely this inverted journey that shapes everything I see in cycling today.
When I first clipped into pedals, I brought with me the analytical eye of a physiotherapist, the mindset of an injured yet determined athlete, and the curiosity of someone who believed that performance was more than the sum of its individual parts.
That curiosity has taken me from World Championship podiums to Olympic Games and multiple UCI podiums over 13 years and now to the pages of Rouleur, where I’m thrilled to introduce this new Performance section.
Here, we’ll venture beyond the standard training advice and racing strategies to explore the multitude of factors empowering human potential on two wheels.
In 2015, I was already meticulously tracking my heart rate variability each morning. I was the odd one out, travelling with recovery boots to races, equipment that raised eyebrows then but has become standard issue now. When I started wearing an Oura ring in 2017, many cyclists hadn’t even considered how sleep quality affected their training adaptation. Now this is an essential practice.
I wasn’t trying to be different. I was simply applying what I knew from my background in applied science and human performance: that the magic doesn’t only happen during the effort, but in everything surrounding it.
What’s fascinating is how rapidly cycling has transformed in this regard. A sport once defined by stoic traditions and unwritten rules of toughness is now at the forefront of performance innovation, and this upgrade has catapulted our sport forwards in recent years. Teams employ scientists, psychologists, nutritionists and data analysts. Riders discuss recovery protocols, grams of carbs per hour and sleep metrics with the same intensity they once reserved for gear ratios.
But this evolution comes with a challenge: information overload. With countless gadgets, apps, and training methodologies available, how do you separate what genuinely works from what merely distracts? How do you build a performance approach that’s sustainable not just for a single event, but for a lifetime of cycling? And more importantly a lifetime of health.
That’s where this column comes in. Drawing on my unique perspective – Olympian, World Championship medallist, physiotherapist, currently final months of a Masters of Science in Coaching Psychology – I’ll guide you through the performance landscape that’s reshaping professional cycling and can transform your own riding experience.
We’ll explore everything from recovery science to psychological resilience. We’ll examine how elite teams are redefining preparation, and translate those insights into practical strategies for cyclists at every level. We’ll look at how performance principles extend beyond the bike, creating synergies between bike riding, work and personal life. Most importantly, we’ll focus on sustainable performance – approaches that don’t just make you faster for a single season but support your development as both an athlete and a person over years.
The days of one-dimensional cycling are behind us. Today’s rider understands that performance emerges from a complex ecosystem of training, recovery, psychology, nutrition and technology. Mastering this ecosystem doesn’t require a professional contract or laboratory access – it requires curiosity, knowledge and strategic implementation.
I’ll share the principles that guided the careers of me and other pro cyclists, the innovations transforming today’s peloton, and practical ways to apply these insights to your own cycling journey. We’ll separate genuine breakthroughs from passing fads, and build an approach to performance that’s as intellectually satisfying as it is physically rewarding.
Whether you’re chasing KOMs, preparing for your first gran fondo, or simply seeking the joy that comes from riding at your best, I invite you to join me in exploring this fascinating intersection where science meets the joy of cycling, where physiology meets passion and where performance becomes not just about going faster, but about experiencing cycling at its fullest.
