“I haven’t actually missed anything all these years” - David van der Poel struggles to find enjoyment in retirement

Having competed in his last cyclocross race at the UCI World Cup in Besançon a year ago and retired from road racing at Putte-Kapellen last October, David van der Poel is now at a crossroads in his life and is unsure as to what to do next in his career.

On his retirement, Van der Poel said in an interview with WielerFlits that “I was able to end it in a positive and fun way. But the first few months after that I didn’t miss the sport. I no longer necessarily had to get on the bike to do heavy training”.

However, it is clear that he misses some aspects of the sport, as he mentioned that “only now, for example, I miss our Spanish training camp and soon also the road races that are coming up”.

In fact, one realisation that the Dutchman has had since he quit being a professional rider is that “I haven’t actually missed anything all these years if I’m honest. I never really saw those sacrifices as an assignment. The only thing that was perhaps a little more difficult was watching my diet. I like to eat and I also like to snack”.

Van der Poel is currently still looking for his next step in his life, stating that “after my last race I took some time to let everything sink in. After a month and a half, I started actively looking for a job. But that is not an easy quest”.

This is a problem that many riders and other professional athletes encounter after their retirements, as they struggle to find a purpose without anything to focus on. Since many of them dropped out of school at a fairly early age and haven’t had any other jobs, it makes it very difficult for them to find work outside of sports.