My sporting inspiration
Ten of the biggest names in women’s cycling reveal the role models for their own stellar careers to Tom Cary
Dani Rowe
Women’s cycling didn’t used to get the sort of coverage it gets now so I would say my idols growing up were more the likes of Paula Radcliffe and Kelly Holmes.
I was really into athletics as a young girl. In terms of cycling, when I began to take it really seriously, Sir Chris Hoy was probably my biggest role model. They say you should never meet your heroes but meeting him lived up to all my expectations and more. He’s the most downto-earth, humble guy, and always happy to chat. No question too stupid, if you know what I mean.
I have to give a shout out to my parents as well. My dad is a two-time Winter Olympian although he hardly mentioned that to me when my sister and I were growing up. A total legend!
Joanna Rowsell Shand
As a young rider my inspiration was Sir Chris Hoy. I remember watching him win gold at the Athens Olympics in the kilo and being totally inspired by such a nail-biting event.
At the time I was just getting into cycling but I hadn’t heard of any British female cyclists. Chris then went on to dominate at the Beijing Olympics and I still find it surreal to think I competed on the same team as him in London. I’ve always felt he was a great role model. The ultimate professional – a fierce competitor on the track but also a genuinely nice guy who had time for anyone.
Amy Pieters
I only started cycling when I was nine and while I don’t really remember having a role model, my father had been a pro cyclist for a long time.
My brother started when he was seven. At first I didn’t like it at all but my parents wanted me to do a sport so first I started with judo but I was a bit heavy for my age. So that wasn’t a success for me!
My brother was training twice a week at the local cycling club and I always had to go with my parents to watch him. The key was when one of my friends started cycling.
I also wanted to try it [and I was there anyway] so I got the old bike and all the other stuff from my brother. A year later I got a licence because I wanted to do races. From that moment I was a cyclist.
Kirsten Wild
I’m more a person who likes to do sport instead of watching sport. The Olympics were always magical to me, I think they inspired me more than a certain person. And as a cyclist I loved the epic feeling of the Tour de France. Again, I wasn’t really following a rider, but more the whole feeling and idea of being a part of such a big event.
I started quite ‘green’. I didn’t know much about road cycling and I am not really from a cycling family. But I remember always really looking up to Arenda Grimberg. She is from my city – Almelo, in Holland – and in those days was a team-mate of Leontien van Moorsel in Farm Frites. She did some training with us and, on those rides, I could give 10 per cent more!
Sabrina Stultiens
I have always admired the way Marianne Vos climbed to the top and how she deals with the sport. On the bike, she sure is insatiable, a winner, it doesn’t matter in which cycling discipline. Off the bike, she is a very amiable, friendly person – nice and interested in you and what you have to say. This earns respect, both from the colleagues and the competitors.
Can you learn anything from her? Absolutely. However, I also think it is important to stay true to yourself and to listen to your own instincts. Every person is different, which means that your approach is also different. To me, the combination of top sport and pleasure is crucial. I sometimes need to get out of that cocoon.
Marianne Vos
I’ve never had real role models in the sport, or people I would always look up to. But I have
‘Hoy was the ultimate pro – a fierce competitor on the track but a genuinely nice guy’ ‘There was a lot of prejudice against female riders in Beryl Burton’s era so she is inspiring’
always had a huge amount of respect for a lot of athletes, in lots of sports. One in particular stands out – Hanka Kupfernagel, a cyclist from Germany. She was extremely strong, indestructible – and all-round competitor. I remember well when I become world champion in cyclo-cross in 2006 for the first time. I beat her in a direct battle in Zeddam, on home soil. That moment felt completely unreal to me, to have beaten someone so good.
Emma Pooley
I wasn’t a cyclist until very late. Even at the Athens Olympics in 2004, when I would have been 21, I wasn’t watching any cycling, let along riding myself. I was a runner and Paula Radcliffe was my hero.
She was the best there was. I remember watching her running the London Marathon
– I don’t remember which year – and she ran every mile faster than I could run the 1500metres on a track. I was blown away by her level. But equally by her character, which really came across in her running; the pained expression. You could tell how hard it was. But she looked so grateful, so happy. She came across as so nice. Funnily enough, on the way back from Beijing 2008
I was on the same flight as her – and I got her autograph!
Dame Sarah Storey
My role model was Sarah Hardcastle. I first watched Sarah as a six-year-old in 1984 win silver and bronze in the Los Angeles Games. I was obsessed by what she had achieved as a 15-year-old and also loved that we had the same first name!
Sarah went on to win double gold in the 1986 Commonwealth Games before having a sevenyear break from the sport. I loved that she was back swimming by the time I was an international swimmer and always admired her work ethic, focus and individual determination.
She had no interest in coming back to the sport if she wasn’t going to continue to improve and her focus on her own best performance always struck a chord with me.
Elisa Longo Borghini
My passion for cycling started very early because I have an older brother, Paolo, who raced as a professional for 11 years. When I was a little girl I used to follow my brother to the races together with my parents and the cycling world attracted me.
My brother Paolo is my role model in this sport and in life in general. I’ve always looked up at him – his will to become a pro cyclist, all his sacrifices for achieving a result, all the hard work in winter for being good in the summer.
When he turned pro, he became a domestique, a role that for me deserves respect the most because it is played by humble guys who work in the darkness, far from cameras and glory.
I have always been fascinated by my brother being so happy after a victory of his captain, with him arriving 15 minutes later than the first one. Yes, if I have to find a role model, that’s Paolo!
Lizzie Deignan
My grandma rode 30 miles on her 80th birthday so she is my cycling inspiration! As I got more involved in cycling I also admired Nicole Cooke [I had her poster on my wall] and Yorkshire legend Beryl Burton (above), the great cycle racer from Leeds who won seven world titles in the 1960s [above]. There was much prejudice against female riders in Beryl’s era, and there is still a lot to overcome now, but she was an inspiration. It’s great that young women have so many more cycling role models today. This year’s Women’s Tour will give another chance for young fans to see our sport in the UK.
‘What Sarah had achieved aged 15 obsessed me, and I loved that we had same first name!’