David van der Poel is een jaar crosser-af: “Eigenlijk heb ik al die jaren niets gemist” wielerflits.be/nieuws/david-v… #wielrennen #koers
“I haven’t actually missed anything all these years” - David van der Poel struggles to find enjoyment in retirement
CyclocrossTuesday, 30 January 2024 at 07:00
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.
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- Thanks Dadmobk22-12-2024
- Hard to believe with the advancment of modern medicine he can not find a cause for this.frieders321-12-2024
- You continue to platform these two cheats. With that in mind I can no longer use your site. I know my leaving means little, but, sometimes you have to take a stand. See ya!DJ21-12-2024
- Look at what Froome’s won since his last TdF, stop denying there is still more than possible one outcome to the future.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- Bruyneel understands nothing about clean competition.Sweep21-12-2024
- Exactly. Remco won 3 WT races/stages last year compared to Pogocar's 19. Remco's single stage win in last years TdF earned him a meager 12 seconds over Pogocar who shellac'd him by 9 minutes in GC.Sweep21-12-2024
- Fortunately and as you point out, more than one strategy is possible and worth trying and I’m sure all concerned riders are well informed and counselled on this subject and don’t need such basic personal advice through media from an outsider.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- The main SPOTY award is "decided" by public vote but the BBC "expert panel" decide who you can choose from, that choice has an equal split of genders and is focussed on the sports BBC show and a disabled athlete. Oh yea the ubiquitous "Pub Games" candidate there too, Darts and Snooker are not sports. The other awards are decided by the "Expert Panel" again it's about the sports BBC show, cycling has had it. Cav got his for his years and achievements in the sport, not just that 35th TDF win. Unless the BBC get access to Pro Cycling it will never feature "adequately" on SPOTYslappers6621-12-2024
- Ahhh..... you have to understand the "strange" diversity concepts of the BBCslappers6621-12-2024
- Avoiding him is a good strategy, you get more wins and then you can compete in the TDF relatively relaxed. Pit yourself against Pogi and not only there will be no wins, it will be considerable mental setbackabstractengineer21-12-2024