"There is a strict relation between mental health issues and cycling" says Trek - Segafredo psychologist

Elisabetta Borgia is a sports psychologist at Trek - Segafredo - both men's and women's teams - and she has talked about the necessary management of athletes within the team to make sure that the team achieve their goals.

Borgia has said that “sportsmen and sportswomen are ordinary people, with family and friends. It’s not easy to separate these worlds. We are thoughts, we are emotions and we are behaviours. There has been a big change in cycling, in sport, and in society in general. Five or 10 years ago there was a big prejudice that psychologists were only for mad people, for crazy people. Now it’s almost trendy."

"In the past, performance was mainly about physical and physiological aspects. All the concentration was on training methods and recovery methods. Now a rider's life is a little more complex. It’s not only about performance, but about media aspects, social aspects. Winning is not enough now. You have to be a character," she told Eurosport.

“Many big riders, big champions, have spoken out about mental health issues. There is a strict relation between mental health issues and cycling from the performance side.” Being one of the most experienced teams in the peloton, it is no surprise that Trek have a big structure which enables the whole project to function strongly.

With the experience obtained, the American team launched it's own women's team which has in the meantime become one of the most successful squads and have current World champion Elisa Balsamo, who has racked up four wins already this season, time-trial World champion Ellen van Dijk and Paris-Roubaix winner Lizzie Deignan who has recently extended her contract after announcing the pregnancy of her second child.

“With the performance team we try to track every rider, almost live, in order to prevent these kinds of issues, to help them find a balance. A happy rider could be a faster rider, but an angry rider could be a faster rider, if they have extra determination. We have to deal with the different emotions, and we have to understand which is the right amount, the best level for the rider," Borgia concluded.