“A fresh start, a clean slate” – Out of the shadow of Vollering and Kopecky, Niamh Fisher-Black is ready to win

Niamh Fisher-Black, the 24-year-old from Nelson, New Zealand, has taken a significant step in her career by leaving Team SD Worx - Protime to join Lidl-Trek. Fisher-Black, who won the New Zealand national championship back in 2020, is eager to see how far she can develop in her new environment.

“I'm really motivated to see what the potential is there,” Fisher-Black told Cyclingnews. “I think it's difficult to become a GC rider, I still need to grow a lot and there are a lot of things I need to work on, and it takes a lot of support and not just expecting to be given that support, but also learning to demand that support.”

She also recognises the importance of leadership within the sport. “Also learning to be a leader and that's, I think, what a lot of really good cyclists or athletes forget – that this is a team sport. And firstly, I need to grow as a person, and that's my next step, get to know this team and see if maybe I could go into that role.”

Fisher-Black joined SD Worx as a young rider and, despite valuable experiences, felt she needed a change to progress. “With a fresh start, a clean slate, it's a really nice way for me to make that step. I mean, I joined SD Worx as a young girl and I think I was always going to be that young girl to them. A new environment maybe gives me a new opportunity to step outside of that box.”

While at SD Worx-Protime, Fisher-Black rode alongside stars like Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering. Despite Vollering’s departure, the team remains strong with the return of the legendary Anna van der Breggen. Yet, Fisher-Black insists she was never deprived of chances at SD Worx.

“I say it over and over, I don't think that I ever didn't get opportunity on SD Worx, and at the end of the day, if you want to be at the top of the sport, it's not about what opportunities you're given, you have to show that you're good enough,” she explained.

“I was amongst some of the best riders in the world, and if I wanted to be at the top of the world and be at the pointy end of the races, I had to be as good as them, if not better.”

Fisher-Black believes that being surrounded by elite athletes helped push her limits. “It was a challenge that motivated me and plenty of opportunities came for me along the way – I got breakaways and I remember wearing countless leaders jerseys in the first years. I don't think anything was ever taken away from me but maybe that's just my personality, being around successful people lifted me up as well.”

Her move to Lidl-Trek was a calculated decision, based on her observations of the team over several years. “I've been in this scene and raced against this team for four years. You get to know the riders in the peloton, and you see how the team races,” Fisher-Black explained.

Conversations with team management convinced her to make the switch. “It was sitting down with the management team and Ina herself and just having a conversation and I think that's enough. You can gauge what the team's intentions are and they believed in me and that was motivating.”

Support from her family also played a crucial role in her decision. “Probably, when we were both going through these decisions last year, we talked each other through it and helped each other through it. Definitely my brother helped me, because change is a really scary prospect,” she admitted.

She acknowledged that switching teams is not just a career move but a transformative experience. “We're both on very, very nice teams but it's also just as much a new opportunity and a new career direction for him as it is for me. It's cool that we can do it at the same time and hopefully help each other as there's some lows, because change is a really, really hard and changing teams changes a lot.”

Fisher-Black is also optimistic about the evolving landscape of women's cycling. “This distribution of really great riders is more spread out, and I think it's really exciting,” she said. “I think that the racing will be different. It will feel different. There will be different teams on top, and different riders on top.”

She believes that the increasing level of competition will push the sport forward. “That excites me because it's going to be a challenge to start to understand new ways of racing and new people to look for because every year we see also new talent come through. And even just in the last year, women's cycling has lifted so much that I will not be surprised to see more and more that this margin of difference at the top is so small.”

With her three-year contract in place, Fisher-Black is focused on improving and delivering results. “Every year I just want to get better and this team has this direction and I can tell being with them, that just, everything is about improving,” she said. “There's always a way to get better and that's for me really motivating and that's also why we see our sport going so much faster and the level lifting higher and higher.”

Looking ahead, Fisher-Black is eager to contribute to Lidl-Trek’s success. “Lidl-Trek have given me a really great opportunity with three years and I hope to pay it back. That means winning some races and hopefully stepping up to be a GC rider for them, and also supporting their other GC riders and really playing with Gaia Realini. I really look forward to that.”