Life as a leadout

Throughout my career so far I’ve taken on a variety of roles within our team, from domestique focusing on early support and positioning, to road captain, and more recently a leader in the Classics.

Over the last 12 months I’ve also had the opportunity to be a leadout for the two fastest sprinters in the world right now, Charlotte Kool and Lorena Wiebes. With this comes quite a bit of pressure, but if executed well, a lot of success.

It’s a role that demands fearlessness, communication and in a lot of cases, patience, and one which I enjoy immensely. A fundamental part of a good leadout is knowledge of the course and timing your effort as a team – focusing on the key moments and choosing when to invest and when to save.

No two sprints are the same and no two sprinters are the same, so a crucial part of being a leadout is knowing your sprinters’ qualities and what they want in a particular finish.

We always approach a race with a ‘perfect plan’, which is the ideal scenario if everything goes as expected during the race. Of course, this rarely happens, and nine times out of 10 we need to make adjustments on the road. This may be due to having fewer numbers at the finish, or in the case of racing on a lap, seeing the finale and fine-tuning the details. And when the margins at the top are so tight, it’s the details that make the difference. Alongside positioning, timing and space, let’s not forget the sprinkling of raw power required to win, which is why my job is over with 200m to go, as I see the rockets fly by. But there’s no complaints, as I get a front row seat to one of the most exciting sprint battles in the women’s peloton, and luckily I have season tickets.