Being a good rider is meaningless if you’re not a good person.

Being a professional cyclist in the women’s peloton is hard. You don’t earn the same amount of money as the men do, so it’s important to have something in your hands when your cycling career is over. That’s why I went to university to get a degree before pursuing cycling fulltime. I studied physiotherapy.

When I was 18, I did the world championships junior road race in Cape Town. At that time, I was just riding my bike for fun. I would ride to the ice-cream shop 2 or 3 times a week and that was my training. Cycling wasn’t my biggest goal. I was doing other sports at the same time. After I won the race, I called home and said, “Mom, I just became world champion” and she said, “What?”

From that moment I realised I was good at this. My parents said you’re 18 years old, you can continue with cycling but the most important thing is school. I had to go get a degree first which was probably a good thing. If you look at the top 20 riders from those World Championships in South Africa, it’s probably only Anna van der Breggen and I who went on to become professionals for a long time. I can’t speak for Anna but I think we both didn’t take cycling too seriously and were focused on other things where as the other girls were full gas at a young age and probably burnt out early.

So, for a few years, I did a combination of studying and cycling. I went to the Olympics in London while I was still at university. When I was preparing for London, I’d be on the rollers and I’d tape my books on the wall in front of me. Or I would put my books on the ironing board in front of me while I was on the rollers so I’d ride and study at the same time.

My friends would film the lectures for me when I missed class while at the races and I would always use their notes. I was racing women who were 100% professionals so it was frustrating sometimes but I really wanted to get a degree. It was hectic balancing everything. During the hard times I would tell myself I just have to make it through this. If you want something, you really just go for it. I got fifth in the London Olympics in the Omnium, so I was really proud to do that while studying.

After my degree, my plan was to go fulltime into cycling. I immediately had a breakout year. I won 12 races on the road and it’s probably because I was very balanced physically and mentally after getting my degree.

I think being a good rider is meaningless if you’re not a good person. I’m always getting approached by good causes and I wanted to use my profile in Belgium to do good for something that’s close to my heart. The Special Olympics resonated with me, especially with my connection being an Olympian so I’ve become an ambassador and volunteer my time. I’ve learnt so much since working with them. Sometimes as professionals, we have bad days and we don’t want to train but I learnt through joining them for training sessions that riding a bike is so much fun actually. Sometimes we forget that. These cyclists going to the Special Olympics have taught me that life is beautiful. I’m their biggest idol but it’s actually the other way around.

One of the reasons I joined Boels Dolmans was for the spring races and I was really looking forward to them. Breaking my collarbone in only the second race of the season was really bad timing. It’s been the biggest challenge in my career. One of the reasons they signed me was for the spring classics. They are the number one team in the world so I really wanted to do well for them. I was devasted when I got injured. Mentally, it was very hard because it felt like I let my team down. My whole spring was gone.

I promised myself I’ll work harder than ever to come back stronger for the rest of the season. I want to do well in every race I’m doing. I took extra care of myself, I didn’t want to get sick so when you’re in that mode of giving everything and being super focused, you are cautious and watch even the smallest details. That’s what being a professional is about.

I finally got rewarded for the hard work with the victory in Bira after my teammates worked so hard for me during that stage. It felt amazing. I was so happy I could take my first victory for the team. Usually I win a few races by that time in the season but I had to wait months for my first victory.

Riding in the peloton, everyone knows me as being happy and friendly. I have a lot of respect for my competitors in the bunch, I like being kind. At the same time, I’m a sprinter so when we come into the last 10 kilometres of a bunch sprint, I become a different person. I become a killer. But during the hilly races, I’m really friendly haha. As I said, being a good rider is meaningless if you’re not a good person. It’s just a little different in the final when it comes down to a bunch kick.