"Cycling is becoming more extreme, but you need that obsessiveness as a top athlete to excel" - Former pro tackles the case of young riders giving up their dream of becoming pros

The cycling public is still vividly discussing the impact of recent retirement of two talents from Soudal - Quick-Step's development team. The first year U23s Cormac Nisbet and Gabriel Berg both cite "lack of life outside cycling" and "too high pressure to perform" among many reasons for their decision.

It's not news that the professionalization of the sponsor in younger categories has been fast in recent years, with big teams looking for the new Pogacars and Vingegaards pretty much since kindergarten. It has become almost necessary to train like professionals since young age in order to be able to keep up with the high level of sport.

Former long-time professional Laurens ten Dam goes into this in more detail in his podcast Live Slow, Ride Fast. "Cycling is becoming more extreme, but first of all: I, and Thomas too, were obsessed with the sport and felt completely involved in it."

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"All I wanted was to become a pro. I don't know if these guys were suited for the life of a top athlete, but it's true that there is more and more monitoring at a young age."

Ten Dam gives an example of the more intense life of a cyclist. "I trained twenty hours a week. Then there were people who said: 'Should you do that, because otherwise you'll be so burned out?' But now there are studies that show that the sooner you train a lot, the better it is for your Vo2Max. We didn't know that at the time."

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There is much more information about the riders in question. "Juniors spend the entire winter in Spain. I just booked a weekend trip to Gulpen. I went there for a week. I thought I was doing well by training hard for a week. The life of an athlete has become more extreme. Young riders will find that off-putting, but you need that obsessiveness as a top athlete to excel."

It just goes too far, Ten Dam agrees. "I read an interview in which Jutta Leerdam (speedskater, ed.) said: 'When I see how much time I've lost with friends and family, it wasn't worth it at all.' That may be healthy, but it is the opposite of the norm."

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