From turbo trainer back to tarmac

Comeback with a W🏆

Nationals for non-pro elites was my last road race – a full year ago. My motivation to line up in 2024 came from a strong sense of unfinished business. Ath the 2023 nationals, I was in the lead group of eight riders when a flat tire messed up my race just 9 kilometers from the finish. I would come back in 2024, chasing redemption.

But redemption never came. Instead, I stepped off the bike mid-race, left in a group with nothing to ride for but a possible 30th place. Nowhere near what I came for. The weather didn’t help either – an average summer day turned miserable: cold, soaking wet, and well outside my comfort zone. So a DNF it was. My hyperfocus on those nationals and the disappointment that followed left me fed up with road cycling.

Finding my happy place on the virtual roads

I found renewed motivation and pleasure in racing online. I turned out to be very good at it, winning races; I was competitive with the best. This opened the opportunity to join the e-racing (aka Zwift) team of Movistar. Pretty cool, probably the I’ll ever get to riding for a WT-team (…or?). I left the road for what it was, my focus was on getting stronger on the trainer. E-racing is even more of a watt game than road cycling. Less about positioning and bike handling, more about raw power and tactics.

Looking back now, this focus on e-racing helped me improve. It exposed my weaknesses. My longer efforts and climbing capabilities have always been good. However, my explosive power – especially sprint to 2-minute efforts – was not good enough. Zwift races are full of point sprints and KOM segments. Even if you can’t win them, you still need to be powerful enough to at least not get dropped! And positioning, something I am rather good at on the road won’t save you on Zwift. So, more raw power was needed and that’s what I have focused on over the last year. I am sure I am a more versatile and stronger rider now than back in 2023-2024 – physically speaking.

That itch is back

As 2025 season started, I felt no urge to step back into road racing. I was still enjoying the indoor race season. Cycling friends kept asking whether I ever got tired of the indoor trainer, the answer was no. I could satisfy my competitive edge in the virtual races and did not need to worry about crashing myself and my bike in the madness of the Dutch ‘clubcompetitie’ for elite riders – it has quite the reputation for pile-ups and crashes. I have raced in multiple countries, but Dutch races are the craziest. I have never been scared, I just felt like it wasn’t really worth the risk.

However, after indoor season had calmed down, things started to itch. I started to become curious how I would do in road races. Did my indoor ventures make me stronger? Strong enough to step up from a good elite to a race winning elite?

Dipping a toe back into it

I decided to sign up for a local road race. Far from the level of the bigger races I’ve done before, but it was the same one where I started road cycling six years ago – just a few categories higher this time. Good vibes, familiar parcours, and no pressure. I was mostly there to have fun. Still, I lined up with the conviction that I was there to win. I thrive when I have this mindset. If I believe I can win, I race my best. But if you show up thinking you can’t, you’ll probably just suffer. Of course, a bit of realism is required. You can be as convinced of yourself as you want, but you’re not winning the Tour de France just by believing in yourself.

Both the watts and the fashion have improved since 2019. Auwch.

Yet, it worked. I stayed in the front ten all race. I jumped when I had to, kept the legs still when I could, and attacked when the bunch was tired. The result? Top step of the podium. Damn, road racing is enjoyable like this!

Highest step baby! Credit: @rondevanwolder

What’s next?

Unsure, but I’ve stepped back into the kitchen – time to start cooking again. 😉 More on that soon (what a cliffhanger, I know).

For my next post, I’ll dive into some common misconceptions between road cycling and e-racing. There are plenty of biases in both directions. Some elite e-sport riders believe they could go toe-to-toe with the world’s best on the road, while many road cyclists see e-racers as one-hour watt machines, spinning at 60 rpm and unable to corner a real bike. Both views are wrong (although not entirely).

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This was a bit of a different post than you are used to. More of me spilling some personal thoughts, lacking the usual training/tech insights. Let me know if you liked it and subscribe!