The pro athletes making the leap into cycling from other sports
As BORA-Hansgrohe’s Anton Palzer turns to cycling after success in another sport we speak to him and others who’ve made the switch
Hands up those of you for whom road cycling has been your number one sport since your parents disposed of your stabilisers? It certainly won’t apply to all of our readership. While many of us now turn to Rapha instead of retro football tops, it wasn’t always so. There’s nothing wrong with that, but can a late entry into cycling hold you back? Certainly not in the case of the people who we spoke to for this feature; athletes who have either made a world-class imprint in other sports before excelling at cycling, or sports men and women who have used their experience in cycling to maximise their fitness in a new sport. Here they reveal their sporting past and unpick the crossover benefits.
THE RUNNER
Canadian Michael Woods has won two stages of the Vuelta a España and finished on the podium at the 2018 World Championships. This past winter he secured a lucrative move from EF Education First to Israel Start-Up Nation, and has already grabbed second overall at Tour des AlpesMaritimes et du Var. It’s a mighty fine palmarès for a middle-distance runner.
“As a junior, I was five-time national champion,” Woods tells us. “I broke the Canadian junior records for the mile and 3km in 3:57mins and 7:58mins, respectively. It earnt me a full scholarship at the University of Michigan, which was the premier middle-distance running school in the world. We had a guy finish second at the Olympics, called Nick Willis [silver in 1500m at Beijing 2008].
“I was on a similar trajectory but started to su er from stress fractures in my left foot. I trained to the same workload as many of my training group but was four years younger and didn’t have their foundation. Soon, every time I ran hard I broke a bone in my foot.”
The door might have slammed shut on Woods’s elite-level running career but it soon swung wide open in cycling. “During that time, I started cross-training to maintain fitness and cycled a fair bit. Dad had just got into road cycling, too, and I fell in love with the fact it didn’t hurt! It was cathartic being able to push it again.”
Canada’s relatively shallow pool of cyclists saw Woods make a big impact in a short time. “The roads were also much less technical – and forgiving – than I’d experience in Europe. To use a skiing terminology, I started on the bunny slopes but soon ended up on the double-blacks.”
Success with several Continental teams saw him sign for Cannondale in 2016, but only after a steep learning curve. Lessons such as: if you don’t climb near the front, you’ll never catch the WorldTour riders; aim for the front on the flat, too, as that’s where you refine tactical knowledge.
It wasn’t all about the new, of course – Woods says running imbued him his famed turn of speed. “In cycling, I train around 30-35hrs a week; in running, it was only around 11-12hrs, though that doubled because I did an hour of stretching and strength and conditioning work for every hour ran. That’s because I ran everything fast. I’d think if I was running slower than 3:45mins/km, I was wasting my time. It probably led to the stress fractures but it has helped in cycling. I’ve noticed when finishing a race or hard training session, the guys complain about how sore they are after. I never feel that soreness.”
In a 360-degree manoeuvre, Woods feels you should run. “In the last year, I’ve started to endure aches and pains, and I think it’s because I’ve neglected running. So I’ve started again and I try to run two or three times a week. I’m hoping to keep it going through the season. It should increase my bone density and overall robustness.”
THE FOOTBALLER
Few in cycling and football will be unaware of Geo Thomas’s story. The 56-year-old central midfielder played for seven clubs, including Crystal Palace for whom he made 195 appearances, as well as winning nine caps for England, before retiring in 2002.
Management opportunities or punditry looked the likely next step. It didn’t happen. Instead, Thomas spent two years battling bone cancer. “I’d trained nearly every day for 18 years and prided myself on fitness,” he says. “Then I had full body radiation, intensive chemo and a stem cell transplant. It took everything to ground zero.”
Thomas was told to pile on weight on before treatment, reaching 95kg. “After, I was 73kg. I looked like a typical cancer patient. Thankfully, I went into remission in January [2005]. And that’s when I got on the bike.”
Thomas wanted to raise funds and awareness for Leukaemia Research, but his knees – the reason behind his retirement – wouldn’t hack a charity walk or run, so a friend suggested a bike. “My first ride was in February and came in at six miles. I thought I was going to die. I knew it’d be a big challenge to build back fitness.”
Fast-forward to December 2005 and Thomas is collecting the Helen Rollason Award from Lance Armstrong at BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year ceremony for raising over £150,000 for Leukaemia Research after riding all 21 stages of that year’s Tour de France ahead of the race itself.
“I remember one day in the Alps. We’d ridden the Madeleine and Col du Télégraphe and struggled up the Galibier. I was at walking pace but reached the top, the sun came out, the temperature rose and I thought, ‘This is what life’s about: achieving your goals.’ I’ll never forget it.”
Since then, Thomas has continued to tick o incredible challenges and, for one last time, will return to France this June with 25 amateur cyclists for The Tour 21 (thetour21.co.uk), riding the Tour one week before the pros.
For this challenge, Thomas has embraced science, employing a power meter and heart-rate monitor, and working to a plan devised by top sport scientist Steve Faulkner of Nottingham University, who’s also a cancer survivor and undertaking The Tour 21. “I’m on Zwift four or five days a week in my garage. But Steve’s warned me that things will ramp up considerably.”
Thomas is also playing around with a supplement-and-electrolyte strategy, and is already feeling the benefits of textbook fuelling.
“Cycling is so far ahead of other sports when it comes to nutrition. When I played football, we could eat anything.” His training was more parochial, too. “You’d often run until you were sick, especially during pre-season. There was no science to it, though that started to change at the end of my career at Crewe, the first year I worked with a sport scientist. Sessions became shorter and more intense, replicating a match. I did a lot of plyometrics and spent more time on recovery.”
Thomas continues to pedal for his love of the sport and the desire to rid the world of bone cancer. Cycling rescued his fitness, eased knee pain and gave his life structure.
But one more thing before we let him go: what was Lance Armstrong like? “He actually rode two stages with us in 2015 to celebrate 10 years of the work we’d done. He was obviously controversial but it generated a lot of interest in the work we were doing... When Lance confessed, it was no great surprise, really.”
“I’D PRIDED MYSELF ON MY FITNESS. THEN I HAD CHEM O, FULL BODY RADIATION AND A STEM CELL TRANSPLANT”
THE SKI MOUNTAINEER
Slovenia’s Primož Roglic, second at last year’s Tour de France and double Vuelta a España winner, has just about shaken o# the tag of ‘former skijumper’ that historically accompanied every news story written about him. Twenty-eight-year-old Anton Palzer may inherit the tag, because from April the German swapped ski mountaineering for a professional cycling contract with Peter Sagan’s team, BORA-Hansgrohe. He tells us about the spark for the switch.
What convinced you to make the move to professional cycling?
“Cycling’s always fascinated me and has been an important part of my summer training programme. Also, I’ve been competing in the Ski Mountaineering World Cup for over 12 years, won several races and finished second overall. I’m now 28 and ready for a new chapter.”
Tell us more about ski mountaineering...
“It’s essentially ski touring and it requires great stamina as well as technical skill for ascents and descents in high Alpine regions up to 4000m in altitude. For ascending, ‘skins’ are mounted beneath the skis so that they don’t slide back when you run uphill. In the most iconic discipline, which is called the ‘individual race’, the competitors have to overcome di#erences in elevation of up to 1900m. The ‘vertical race’ has only one ascent of around 1000m, while the ‘sprint race’ is a short distance route that includes one ascent and descent.”
What’s a normal training week in ski mountaineering?
“It’s similar to cycling in terms of intensity and volume. The di#erence is that we don’t calculate in kilometers but in altitude di#erence. In the preparation phase, we’re talking 20,000m in altitude per week; in the competition phase I train a maximum of 10,000m.”
How did BORA-Hansgrohe spot you?
“In May 2020 I started training with Helmut Dollinger on my skiing goals for the winter season. Helmut’s also a coach at BORAHansgrohe. I did some performance tests on the road bike, which made an impression and it progressed from there.”
What are your current strengths on the bike? “The mountains. With a body weight of 61kg, I’m made for riding them. I grew up in a remote area at an altitude of 1000m, so I’ve been used to riding steep ramps from a very early age. To test my cycling form, in the past I’ve completed hard races, such as the Glockner König and the Kitzbüheler Horn.”
What are the main areas to work on?
“It’s no secret that I’ve never raced in a peloton, and I’m fully aware that I’ve a lot to learn about tactics and taking on tasks for the team. And, of course, I have to fine-tune my position and cycling skills. During a winter training camp with the team at Lake Garda, for example, it became clear that I hold my handlebars far too tightly. This comes from ski mountaineering, where it’s important to have a firm grip on the poles.”
“IT’ SS I’VE EC R NON EVERETT HAT RACED IN A PE LOT ON. I’M FULLY AWARE THAT I’VE A LOTTO LEARN ABOUT TACTICS AND TAKING ON TASKS ...”
THE RUGBY UNION PLAYER
How a former top cyclist is making her mark in a new sport
You have to have some jealousy for Rosie Blount as she’s one of those rare individuals who can turn her hand to multiple tasks. She’s a student medic and plays at the highest level in women’s rugby. Were the foundations for success in both fields – a pragmatic temperament, discipline and mental fortitude – laid in cycling?
“I was in the GB under-23 track sprint cycling academy from 2013 to 2015, and competed internationally in the team sprint, match sprint, keirin and 500m TT,” Blount says. “My greatest cycling achievement was a bronze medal in the Under-23 European Championships team sprint with Katy Marchant [who took bronze in the Rio Olympics], but I also represented GB at the Senior Europeans in 2014.”
Blount grew up in Manchester, the heart of indoor cycling, where she trained on the track four times a week, in the gym three times a week, finishing o with two recovery rides on the road. She was good, very good. But after two years on the programme, she’d reached a crossroads. “I wasn’t getting the results I needed and British Cycling knew I had a place at university to study medicine. That made the decision for me.”
At Leeds University, a course colleague who loved rugby encouraged Blount to come along to the ‘give it a go’ session run by the university team. Looking for a fresh sporting challenge, she did indeed give it a go, fast-tracking from novice to Yorkshire, various sevens teams in national competitions and (her home for the past few seasons) DMP Durham Sharks, of England’s top rugby union league, Premier 15s.
Blount’s a winger, utilising her track-cycling experience. “The strength and power I developed helped massively with the physicality of rugby. I turned up pretty fit and fast, so I could mainly focus on learning the skills side of the game. Over the last few years I’ve maintained lowerbody strength, then gained some upper-body strength and fitness.”
These days, Blount’s weekly routine comprises two team-training sessions in Durham, three gym sessions, a couple of conditioning or sprint sessions, a modicum of CrossFit and then gameday Saturday. She still rolls out on two wheels although she is a self-confessed fair-weather cyclist these days.
“Over the past year, I’ve valued the freedom of cycling so much more, what with all the other restrictions put upon us,” she says. “My sister and I completed the South West Coastal 300-mile ride in Scotland prior to the second national lockdown, which was good fun and a really great way to get some headspace.”
Cycling retains a place in Blount’s heart but, for now, tomorrow is all about rugby and medicine. “With graduating and starting work next year I don’t know how feasible it’ll be to keep playing in the Premiership, but I’ll try and make it work. Career-wise, I’d love to go down the emergency medicine route, particularly in anaesthetics, and see where we go from there. I’ve always dreamed of working with Médecins Sans Frontières [the international humanitarian organisation known for its work in conflict zones], so I’ll see if I can make that happen.”