"The biggest lesson that I learned was that not winning was normal" - Anna Kiesenhofer on post-Olympic success year

Following her shocking in at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Anna Kiesenhofer has risen to the very top of the cycling world. An outlier in professional cycling, Kiesenhofer has actually rarely been a professional cyclist despite her results, but this year she has tested herself amongst the best once again.

“I took a bit of time to settle in this year, and I did a few races with real focus," Kiesenhofer shared in an interview with Velonews. "This year maybe that wasn’t the best strategy as I tried to peak for a few events but I had some bad luck and didn’t really have the results that I wanted. Overall though, I’m really happy with my performances. I think I have a good base to build on.”

Her first UCI races of the year were the national championships, in which she explains: “My goal was to win both the national road race and time trial championships. I thought it would be nice to have both titles for the year to go with being the Olympic champion but I lost by a fraction of a second in the time trial and then came close in the road race."

"They were races I really built up for and I left with a feeling of emptiness after leaving empty-handed," the Austrian continued. That may have led her to seek more of the season. She has finished fifth in the time-trial of the European Championships, and signed a short-term contract with the Soltec Team so that she could participate in the women's La Vuelta.

“Then I built up for the Vuelta and there wasn’t really a mountain stage but there was a queen stage and I didn’t feel good. I was 31st," she added, displaying the disappointment. "Then there was the day I did the long breakaway and was caught with 1km to go. That doesn’t show in the results. It was a bittersweet feeling in that the performances were there but the results were missing.”

The Olympic champion has continued her season away from a professional structure, riding to a 10th place at the time-trial World Championships. “It was a great experience with lots of learning. I got to see how it all works with sponsors and being Olympic champion opened up many new doors when it came to being able to ride the best equipment. I learned a lot about myself, and what I want to do,” she said.

“I think that the biggest lesson that I learned was that not winning was normal. There were some near-misses that hurt in the moment, but I learned that this is normal because there’s only one winner. It taught me that I need to cherish the victories when they come," Kiesenhofer concluded.