Vuelta a España and other upcoming races
I was quite surprised that the news of my participation in the women’s Vuelta a España made so many headlines. I mean, it almost sounded as if I hadn’t done any serious racing since my win in Tokyo at all. For me personally, it’s not only World Tour races that count. I take other races just as serious. E.g. last year the Chrono des Nations (where I finished second) and this year the National Championships (where I finished second twice). I also want to clarify that, while it is true that I will race the Vuelta as a guest rider for the UCI team Soltec Costa Cálida, I am not “turning professional” with them (as some headlines said) — I have been a professional athlete for almost a year now thanks to my personal sponsors. The signing with Soltec is just a way to compete in the Vuelta and apart from this one race I will stay a member of the small Austrian team “Team Cookina Graz”.
At any rate, I think it might be a good idea to tell you about my 2022 season in my own words and not only let the media talk ;) .
The first half of my season was dedicated to my goal of winning the National Championships - a goal which I unfortunately didn’t achieve. In parallel, a major “invisible” project was to set up my network of people who help me with all aspects of performance (training, recovery, equipment,…).
For the rest of the season I have planned the following races:
August 17: European Championships ITT in Munich
Sept. 7-11: Vuelta a España. I will not target the GC (because of the team time trial in the first stage) but rather try to get some good results in the the hilly stages.
Sept. 18: World Championships ITT (Australia)
Oct. 16: Chrono des Nations (UCI 1.1)
My favourite climb (Col de la Croix-de-Coeur). And it starts at my doorstep :) .