Is Pro Cycling failing riders mentally? “Only a handful of teams actually employ a sports psychologist,” warns former WorldTour pro

In a sport obsessed with marginal gains, it’s easy to assume that every detail is accounted for — from wind tunnel testing to blood lactate profiling. But according to former WorldTour rider Martijn Tusveld, there’s one area where much of the peloton is still falling short: the mind.

Despite a racing career that spanned all three Grand Tours with the now-named Team Picnic PostNL team, Tusveld says the mental side of performance remains an afterthought for many teams — a blind spot in an otherwise data-driven era.

“Only a handful of teams actually employ a sports psychologist,” he tells Procycling. “More often, it’s an external consultant that riders have to seek out themselves, or someone brought in only when there’s a problem. But I believe that’s going to change. I think the next big innovation in cycling is personal attention to the mind.”

Tusveld’s perspective isn’t coming from the outside looking in — it’s informed by personal experience. After his contract wasn’t renewed at the end of 2024, he looked set to put racing behind him and return to his Psychology degree. But a lifeline came from BEAT Cycling, a Continental-level Dutch outfit with a progressive approach to mental support.

At BEAT, psychology isn’t a box-ticking exercise — it’s embedded into the team’s philosophy. The squad works with Lex Ligtenberg as an in-house mental coach, allowing riders regular access to guidance and support. “It’s been great to combine my studies with riding again, especially in a team where the mental side is taken seriously,” Tusveld explains. “I still believe there’s a lot to gain in cycling when it comes to the brain.”

And for someone who’s felt the weight of expectation up close, that support isn’t abstract. Back in 2014, after a standout fourth place at U23 Liège–Bastogne–Liège the previous year, Tusveld struggled under self-imposed pressure — an all-too-common experience for young riders trying to prove themselves.

“I couldn’t replicate the result, and I noticed in other races that when I had expectations, I underperformed. But when I went in without them, I rode well,” he recalls. “That’s when I first worked with a mental coach. I didn’t even know how to recognise pressure, let alone handle it. That process gave me tools I still use now.”

While sports psychology is gaining ground in the WorldTour, it’s far from standardised. A few teams — like Team Visma | Lease a Bike and EF Education-EasyPost — have well-integrated mental performance departments, but many others rely on ad hoc arrangements, if anything at all. Young riders in particular are often left to figure it out alone, with limited support beyond traditional coaching staff.

“It’s not that teams don’t care,” Tusveld notes. “It’s just that mental coaching still isn’t baked into the day-to-day system like nutrition or training are. And yet, it can be the difference between unlocking performance and plateauing — especially when pressure, injury, or personal setbacks hit.”

This isn’t about mental health in the clinical sense, though that too is important. Tusveld is pointing to something more specific: performance psychology. The art of handling pressure, maintaining focus, and building resilience — skills as critical to winning as a big engine or perfect race craft.

With more teams investing in marginal gains, it’s not hard to imagine a shift on the horizon. Tusveld believes it’s inevitable.

“Every rider, at some point, runs into something mental that affects performance. It might not always be obvious, but it’s there — burnout, pressure, fear of failure, lack of motivation. If you can learn how to deal with those things earlier, the payoff is huge,” he says. “We’re still only scratching the surface. I think we’ll look back in ten years and wonder why it wasn’t taken more seriously sooner.”

As teams continue to hunt for fractions of a percent in performance, perhaps it’s time they started looking not just at watts — but at what’s going on between the ears.