Most people catapulted from relative obscurity into the spotlight would struggle to come to terms with their newfound status, and recently crowned world champion Magdeleine Vallieres is no different.
In a wide ranging get-to-know-you question and answer session published on her EF Education-Oatly team website, the Canadian rider admits to being slightly nonplussed by her celebrity, but shows her competitive spirit, targeting success at next spring’s Ardennes races.
“It is really weird. I’m not used to it at all,” she says. “I’m trying to hide a little bit because I feel a bit weird. I don’t really understand it. I’m the same as I always was. It is special, but I’m not used to having all this attention. I didn’t realise it would be such a big thing.
“From Canada, I’ve had a lot of really nice messages, especially from the young riders, saying that they’re excited and now see that it’s possible to win races like worlds. I think this is the biggest thing. I didn’t realise how much of an impact this could have on others, helping people believe in themselves. That is one of the things I’m the most proud of: that it is possible to inspire people to believe that they can really do it.”
It is this ability and the increased confidence her success will give that have dictated her main targets for next year. “I want to win one of the Ardennes Classics,” she said. She has improved each year she has raced the three events which close the spring campaign, and Flèche Wallonne would seem to be her best chance, as she was 14th there this year.
Vallieres also reveals her thoughts as she approached her biggest win to date, and they’re probably not too dissimilar from those all of us watching would have had.
“I was thinking, “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.” I saw 500 metres to go, and then it started to feel a little bit more real, but also not so real. The last 500 metres felt…
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