Dutch coach believes young riders should also look beyond cycling: "If you see yourself purely as a cyclist, then you literally lose your identity when you stop racing"

The story of the two promising Soudal - Quick-Step riders who stopped racing rang alarm bells among the cycling echelons as it is rather unprecedented. Little is spoken about the complications of becoming professional cyclist, including social isolation

We have seen cases like this one before (f.e. American supertalent Adrien Costa in 2017), but it's rare to involve multiple riders of the same team. Former professional cyclist Xandres Vervloesem also pulled the plug on his cycling career 2 years ago. Because the sport he once loved so much, no longer made him happy.

"If you really want to become a professional cyclist, you will do everything for it with social isolation as a danger," the then Lotto cyclist found out. A series of setbacks and too many sacrifices broke him sourly. At the age of 21, he quit racing. "During my time with the DSM promises I lost the joy of cycling. I had moved to the Netherlands and was isolated there, far away from my friends," he confessed to Sporza.

Natascha Knaven-den Ouden, manager of the NXTG project, tries to make the view of young female cyclists less scary "by telling them that they should not identify with what they do", is her vision. "You are not a cyclist, but you do cycling. Because if you see yourself purely as a cyclist, then you literally lose your identity when you stop racing."

Knaven advises her riders to discover their other talents in addition to racing. "As a rider, you don't sit on a bike for 8 hours. So you still have time to challenge your brain and study, for example. At a certain point in your career, you may find out that racing doesn't suit you. Then you can still go another way."

Knaven also makes sure that there is still enough fun in her youth teams. "For example, one of our assistant team leaders sometimes makes pizzas after the race as a recovery meal."