Is this Britain's next great rider? Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider Imogen Wolff reveals her journey so far in the professional peloton: "I’m still absolutely kicking myself"
Cycling
At just 18 years old, Yorkshire’s Imogen Wolff has already begun making waves in the cycling world. Riding for Team Visma | Lease a Bike, Wolff’s journey to the top has been anything but conventional, and she is clearly one of the most talented up and coming British riders right now.
Wolff recently spoke to Cycling Weekly about her unique path into professional cycling and the remarkable achievements she’s already chalked up on the world stage.
For many young riders, securing a place in a WorldTour team requires patience and careful planning. Wolff, however, took a different route.
“I messaged every single DS from every single WorldTour team on Instagram, which I wouldn’t recommend you do,” she admitted. “It’s not very good for negotiating power. When I told my agent, he was like, ‘Why have you done that?’ But from then on, I started having conversations.”
While unconventional, Wolff’s direct approach opened doors, setting her on the path to a professional career with Team Visma | Lease a Bike.
Wolff’s passion for cycling stems from her family, where the sport has always been a cornerstone of their lives. “Cycling’s always been a big part of our lives as a family,” she said.
Wolff is the second of three siblings, and followed in her mother’s footsteps, starting with triathlon and cyclocross when she was still a child. By her early teenage years, she turned her focus to track cycling, despite the closest velodrome to her being over an hour away.
“My dad was like, ‘You might as well do deep-sea diving, the sea is pretty much as far,’” she said.
Fresh off the back of completing her A-levels in Biology, Chemistry, and Maths, Wolff played a key role in Great Britain’s team pursuit squad. The team not only claimed the gold medal but also shattered the world record in the final at the Junior Track World Championships.
“I’d not really slept the night before, and I woke up with a chesty cough,” she revealed. “I can’t really remember the second half of the race. I was vomiting up blood and just in a mess.”
While Wolff has achieved remarkable success, her journey has not been without setbacks. At the World Championships time trial in Zurich, she experienced a moment of frustration despite finishing with the third-fastest time and taking home a bronze medal.
“I just completely lost my head and panicked,” she admitted. The experience still weighs heavily on her. “It’s difficult to speak about,” she said, groaning in exasperation. “It still gets my back up thinking about it. I’m still absolutely kicking myself.”
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- Just goes to show how much training has changed over the years. I remember a time when pros rode with total amateurs on certain training days, not only can they no longer afford to ride so relaxed, some are probably contractually banned from riding with uncleared others, if only for accident and insurance purposes.Mistermaumau02-01-2025
- Likewise, the same can be said for just about any sport. Still doesn’t change what Pogboom said.Mistermaumau02-01-2025
- I think anyone setting out obsessed to win it is doomed to fail. It only happens to a couple of handfuls every generation, maybe just a handful during anyone’s best career years. We had a period without « outstanding » riders (almost 10 different winners in 10 years) where it would have been easy, he may be resigning himself to the fact he just came along at the « wrong » moments and it may be best to focus on other challenges whilst waiting to see if a good opportunity to win after all comes along. He’s probably weighing choices, copy JV by sacrificing everything for the TdF or do his own programme and hope the right opportunity to win presents itself. He still has time on his side.Mistermaumau02-01-2025
- You expect him to talk about other riders instead? Maybe write to journalists in order to suggest directing better interview with him if you want it to change.Mistermaumau02-01-2025
- I don’t get the Voldemort comment but much appreciate what you wrote. As there was no other return regarding my idea, it seems they’re ok to continue posting in this article and as we have freedom of speech I’ll go OT, if anyone other than you reads on, I warn you, it’s probably a waste of your time, but, your choice ;-). Portugal is a pretty good choice, only negatives are price rises but maybe you bought in time and anyway downscaling from the US or many other EU countries that is just a first world citizen problem, worse is the rising risk of foreigner resentment but in my experience this is more a social and media discussion than an individual one, if you behave correctly (many feel the need of that freedom to behave like they wish and then wonder why others turn against them) you’ll never have personal issues with anyone just because you’re from elsewhere. CH, D, A kill joy, spirit and curiosity, though south CH (Ticino, lake areas) mixes a bit of I mentality and has sun so might be worth exploring. H is sitting on a fence geopolitically, too unclear how it’ll go. Budapest is great and relaxed but nature aside there’s little more of interest to a seasoned traveler. Scandinavia, Iceland, FI GB all very interesting and beautiful but without reasons the weather is too off-putting, yes. F bureaucracy can kill you, most of the Mediterranean places are good if you pick well, many generally ignored issues can become crucial. Greece is often overlooked. Crete as an example would suit me. Have lived in B, NL, F, UK, E, L and spent a lot of time in I, visited friends/travelled to NY, Cali & Hawaii, Barbados, Iceland, Belarus, Turkey, Vietnam, UAE, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and more than 80% of the rest of Europe. Never had a real problem except with individuals, even during tensions (war/civil unrest). Freedom of speech is an exaggerated problem outside certain very well known places. I mean who of us would feel like standing on a box in public preaching stuff to strangers, do many of us really have such strong agendas to promote? As long as people can talk to each other openly when they feel like it, let’s just live life.Mistermaumau02-01-2025
- i really do relate to your deep concerns about the perils of allowing dangerously manipulative discourse in a largely unchecked way. in the current social/political climate in the US you can FEEL that peril constantly if you’re paying any attention and you’re willing to actually think through it. really, man, i get it. the problem for me, though, is i can’t really find an example of a country that limits/controls/restrains speech via its institutions and institutional state apparatuses that i would actually prefer to live in. all the places i look at and think YUP, I MIGHT WANNA LIVE THERE are countries with levels of free speech that equal (some might argue they exceed) that of the united states. if it weren’t for the incessant cold i’d be totally up for living in denmark, norway or switzerland. i AM going to live at least half the year in portugal (having already bought a house there precisely because my mind is quieter and i feel more peaceful when i’m not in the US), and there are lots of other places that are on that list that all have protected speech to nearly absolute degree. conversely, i NEVER spend ANY time thinking “maybe i’ll take my wife and dogs and move to Belarus.” or russia, or china, or hungary, or central african republic, or yemen, or…” You get the idea. i’m well aware of my ignorance of so many of the world’s cultures, so if there’s somewhere out there that’s figured out how to LIMIT SPEECH and, by doing so, produce a more enlightened, more peaceful and compassionate and HAPPIER way of life for its citizens, then i’ll sell everything and move THERE (as long as there are nice places to pedal a bicycle and they have rideable surf and plenty of sun).OCexile02-01-2025
- He seems to be suggesting that never winning the Tour would be fine because (a) no one else will do the Olympics double that he did, and (b) that double is as good as anything anyone else will achieve. Mind games with self, I think.Renz02-01-2025
- How is it not a team just because they have a $50 million payroll? Ridiculous comment.mij02-01-2025
- How is it not ok??? That makes no sense. The Tour de France is the biggest sporting event in the world, and the top ride makes $6.0 million?? THAT makes no sense.mij02-01-2025
- voldemortOCexile02-01-2025