Only a yr in the past Felicity Wilson-Haffenden was lining up on the Australian Street Nationwide Championships to see how she would fare towards her rivals within the junior class given she’d now had a minimum of a bit time to hone her racing abilities after having picked up a motorbike to allay the boredom in the course of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
It was Wilson-Haffenden’s second time racing on the occasion, however after claiming each the U19 highway race and time trial title it grew to become the primary time she actually began to imagine that she could have what it takes to pursue the game to the highest stage. Now only a yr later the 18-year-old additionally has a world time trial title and shall be stepping out of the junior ranks on the 2024 Australian Street Nationwide Championships as a member of one of many world’s high groups, Lidl-Trek.
The Tasmanian’s first outing as an expert bike owner shall be on Thursday, January 4, within the self-discipline the place she holds junior nationwide and world titles, however this yr she’ll be out on the time trial course with the U23 and elite ladies. On Sunday January 7 will probably be onto the elite/U23 ladies’s highway race in Buninyong the place Wilson-Haffenden will line up alongside Lidl-Trek’s defending Australian champion Brodie Chapman, three-time winner Amanda Spratt and Lauretta Hanson, who stood on the rostrum on the race in 2021.
The neo-pro’s season then continues on the Girls’s Tour Down Underneath, which is able to see Wilson-Haffenden taking up her first Girls’s WorldTour race in South Australia from January 12-14.
Will probably be a giant begin to what’s sure to be one other large yr so earlier than the racing begins, let’s discover out a bit extra about Wilson-Haffenden’s fast rise to the highest tier of the biking world.
Cyclingnews: When did biking come into your life?
Felicity Wilson-Haffenden: I feel I should have been 14, 15 or so and COVID hit, I used to be enjoying hockey earlier than that and hockey stopped due to the lockdowns so I used to be principally simply bored and bought on my bike. After which the Tasmanian Institute of Sport had expertise ID periods so I went alongside to that and I have to’ve been all-right I assume.
CN: So it was an accelerated path into biking, at what level did you resolve you had been taking a look at significantly pursuing this?
F W-H: I bought the chance in 2022 to go on the Australian Junior growth journey to Europe for a month and I feel that was once I was like, that is cool, that is what I need to do after which I feel from Street Nationals in 2023 that is once I realised that possibly I’d truly be all proper at it. [Ed. – she claimed the junior TT and road race at the event and came second in the criterium, so yeah she was definitely all right at it]
CN: It sounds such as you had been all the time somebody who was probably going to go down a sporting path profession clever?
F W-H: It is all the time been a giant a part of my life. I feel I’ve executed each sport underneath the solar practically – athletics, hockey, soccer and others – however I feel biking is the primary one which I actually tried to take significantly. For me I feel biking is the one the place I noticed a profession out of it.
CN: You’ve got executed a mix of highway and observe, what made you resolve to observe the highway pathway?
F W-H: I am nonetheless doing a bit little bit of observe as effectively with it however highway actually is the place you’ve gotten a profession. Monitor is Olympic medals and there may be some actually cool stuff you are able to do there however by way of truly making a dwelling out of it, highway affords that extra and I actually benefit from the journey you get with highway.
CN: Did you suppose you’d have the ability to pursue it as a profession so early … turning professional at 18 is pretty uncommon, significantly for an Australian rider?
F W-H: It is positively not one thing I used to be anticipating this yr. This time final yr I used to be simply excited to have had a visitor trip at Inform and be speaking about driving for BridgeLane. It has been a loopy 12 months however, no, I positively wasn’t anticipating this. I used to be anticipating, to do one other yr with BridgeLane this yr, attempt to go to Europe for a bit stint once more. However I assume after Worlds every thing simply went a bit gangbusters.
CN: Do you’re feeling like that win actually propelled the chance to understand that highway contract? Had been you speaking to individuals earlier than that?
F W-H: We had had some very small scale discussions earlier than that however as a result of I have not raced a European season – individuals do not actually get to see the Australian [juniors] as a lot – however after that race for certain, all of the sudden individuals are coming at you from all angles and I used to be like a child in a sweet store.
CN: Are you able to speak a bit bit in regards to the strategy of signing up with Lidl-Trek and the way that occurred and why you made that alternative?
F W-H: I am fortunate. I am Tasmanian and Richie [Porte] has clearly ridden with Trek, and is aware of lots of people there so he was actually good with getting me speaking to the suitable individuals and simply having an precise understanding of the way it all runs. However it was good to have Lauretta [Hanson] and Spratty [Amanda Spratt] and Brodie [Chapman], who all trip there, at Worlds as effectively. For me it was simply gaining understanding from the precise individuals who trip within the groups of what they had been like as a way to choose the suitable one for me. However after they [Lidl-Trek] referred to as me … my coronary heart was in my throat.
CN: You will not be the one 18 yr outdated beginning out with the staff this yr, was the growth course of the staff has put in place actually vital to you?
F W-H: That was a giant purpose why I truly wished to go there. It is virtually like a growth staff inside a WorldTour staff. All of the alternatives of A WorldTour staff with the assist of a growth staff and … no actually large expectations to right away win races. It is form of like the right situation. I’ve bought time to seek out my toes and determine all of it out however with all these unimaginable riders and gear and folks round me.
CN: You’ve got had an unimaginable run this season from a outcomes perspective – from the Nationwide Championships junior highway race and time trial titles, Oceania junior ITT win after which after all Worlds. Does that offer you a level of confidence as you head out of the junior ranks?
F W-H: Positive, these outcomes are good and so they offer you confidence. I feel the factor you may virtually take extra confidence from is how robust the Australian juniors truly are in the meanwhile. When you find yourself successful races towards them and racing toe to toe with them it additionally provides you a little bit of confidence as a result of even in Australia you need to be at a excessive stage, I feel. However it’s a complete different area subsequent yr … Underneath 23 is not a lot of a class so it is similar to getting in with the elite and leaping within the deep finish of the pool.
CN: With it being such a giant soar, what do you suppose would be the key to managing that change and the way do you’re feeling about what’s forward?
F W-H: I do not know, virtually, what to anticipate. I am tremendous fortunate that there’s no expectation of me subsequent yr. I simply type of get to observe the skilled riders in my staff and I feel simply adjusting to life in Europe is definitely going to be the largest change. And throughout the peloton, I assume, studying to place your self and all these issues in a giant and quicker transferring peloton shall be one thing actually completely different. However total it simply makes me excited to be sincere.
CN: The Australian Street Nationwide Championships shall be your first race with the brand new staff, I am guessing the time trial shall be a key purpose?
F W-H: For certain, I will look to do effectively in that. The preparation hasn’t been as excellent as I might like, with a little bit of sickness and so forth …however the time trial is one thing I am actually excited for. I am unable to wait to check myself, I imply Grace Brown is true there – the most effective on the earth – so it is good to have the ability to see the way you stack up towards riders like that.
CN: After which strolling into the highway race. I imply, you’ve got bought the defending Australian champion in your staff [Brodie Chapman], a 3 time winner [Amanda Spratt]. The considered that should simply be unimaginable?
F W-H: It makes me smile simply fascinated by it. I will positively be on domestique duties and I am fairly okay with that.
CN: And I am certain will probably be good via the Australian summer season racing to have a house introduction to life throughout the staff, however I imagine you’ve gotten already had some interplay?
F W-H: Yeah. We spent per week in America at a staff bonding form of camp and that was so cool. It felt like strolling into a very completely different world actually.
CN: Did you’re feeling a bit bit such as you needed to pinch your self at occasions trying round in any respect the superb riders round you?
F W-H: Yeah, I used to be rooming with Elisa Longo Borghini and oh, I practically had a panic assault once I noticed that come via. She was simply such a pleasant particular person however I used to be similar to ‘oh, my goodness’.
CN: Wanting on the greater image long run biking objectives, what sort of rider do you see your self turning into? What are the important thing races you take a look at and suppose, at some point I need to win that?
F W-H: The highest of the dream board is Paris-Roubaix. I feel in all probability I shall be extra of a at some point rider. Perhaps a domestique within the excursions after which I might actually prefer to discover time trials a bit extra too. The time path bike might be my favorite factor to coach on.
CN: This yr was a giant one to look again on, what sort of yr do you hope you may be trying again on on the finish of 2024?
F W-H: I simply hope that I’ve arrange a great base for myself. Made some good associates, bought some good experiences and I am trying ahead to being snug saying that I am an expert bike owner. It feels surreal now, so I am hoping by subsequent yr it’d really feel a bit bit extra pure.
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