Hannah Barnes makes switch to rider agent with SEG agency: "A good agent is someone who cares"

Retirement can be a tricky phase in an athlete’s career, but for Hannah Barnes, the transition has been a smooth sailing with the former rider hanging up her wheels in October and almost immediately taking up a full-time role as a rider agent at SEG Cycling.

"A good agent is someone who cares," she told GCN in a recent conversation. "They’re someone that you can trust and someone that, as a rider, you know has your back. Being a good agent is about taking time with people and looking after them. It’s great to help someone during the good times but as a former rider I know that there are going to be times when there’s struggle or hardship, and I want the riders I work with to know that there’s someone who will always be there for them."

Barnes will head up the women’s cycling portfolio at SEG. The agency has around a dozen female cyclists on their books but the plan is to carefully grow that number over the coming years. Barnes will be integral to those business plans, using her contacts within the peloton to sit down with riders and propose how she can enhance their careers.

"At the moment it’s about being there if they have any questions, figuring things out if they don’t have the race calendar that they were looking for and helping them focus. I just want to be someone that they feel comfortable with and then help them through their careers," she said.