"From not being able to walk to learning how to win a pro bike race" - Thomas Gloag reflects on difficult few years after securing Tour Down Under top-10
Cycling
Thomas Gloag has long been viewed of as a rider with a high ceiling. Sadly for the Brit though, over the last few years, his momentum has consistently been thwarted by injuries and bad luck. At the 2025 Tour Down Under, Gloag opened the new season solidly, taking a top-10 in the general classification.
Having spent almost a year off-bike following a training horror crash, Gloag only raced two races in the 2024 season. Incredibly though, on just his third day back, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike star took his first professional victory on stage 3 of the Czech Tour. “My plan was always to come back and be competitive straight away. People would always say at the start of rehab: when are you planning to return to the peloton again? I think that's the wrong question to ask, because turning up to a race is one thing, being competitive in a race is a whole different kettle of fish,” he explains to Rouleur. “I don’t turn up to races and not be competitive, I’ve done that bashing round the Giro d’Italia in 2023. Before Czech, I knew that I was in a really good place, but I did miss a little bit last year in terms of those micro accelerations. That’s something that will come when I manage to race more.”
In 2025, Gloag's aims are quite: have a full racing season without injury. “This year, it's a very boring goal, but I'd love to just get 50 or 60 race days in. I feel like a big silver lining of going from not being able to walk to learning how to win a pro bike race for the first time is that you get to understand yourself,” Gloag says. “I think my first year in the team I was quite insecure, surrounded by a lot of really good riders on the team. I came from a small Continental team to one with the Tour de France winner and the Giro d’Italia winner. That was a lot to get my head round. The fact that I managed to come back from my crash and win helped me build some more inner confidence.”
“I’m someone that kind of lucked into the position I'm in. It’s not like I had from a young age a massive want to be a professional cyclist. It's obviously something that I've really enjoyed, but I kind of found myself here more by chance, and then by pure will,” he continues. “You can definitely want it too much. Probably my biggest mistake before getting hit by a car when I was in my first year professional was I wanted it too much and I didn't know when to back off. Once you start gaining that confidence and feeling it within yourself, you start looking for a lot less validation from people like your trainer or the team. Everyone is very professional on Visma and has a massive inner drive. That can be overdone sometimes even – it's a weird little balance. I think I found that quite nicely this year.”
Gloag never really considered retirement as a viable option though. “I think I was a bit delusional, because I just convinced myself I was always going to come back. I didn't even consider the possibility that it wasn't possible,” he admits. “I'm very fortunate that I didn't have that conversation with myself, because I think that's quite a slippery slope to go down. You've got to live every moment in this sport. The perspective that I gained from that crash is I just really enjoy bike racing, I’m really grateful to be doing it and just finishing safely.”
As showcased by his Tour Down Under performance, Gloag also still has much left to offer. “For me being competitive just means being able to help a team win. I don't have that much experience, so it's not like I can do a fantastic job in the early parts of a race for the guys, so I have to compensate a little bit with my level to help the team win,” he explains. “There are a lot of really strong guys on Visma, but it's easy to over complicate the sport. If you turn up and you have a competitive level, you're always going to be able to be an asset to a team."
“Everyone's always looking to do better and better but I am happy with the level I'm at now,” Gloag concludes. “I really want to do more of the same and move up step by step. It's a difficult sport, I'm happy with where I'm at. I’d love to just keep that going.”
🇦🇺 #TourDownUnder
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) January 26, 2025
Great 8️⃣ place for Thomas in the general classification! 👏 pic.twitter.com/cQgyVzdMpm
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