Van den Broek-Blaak puts off retirement to continue through 2024 season

While her SD Worx teammate Ashleigh Moolman Pasio has today announced her retirement from cycling at the end of the 2022 season, Chantal van den Broek-Blaak has taken the decision to reverse her impending retirement and instead renew her contract through the end of the 2024 season. SD Worx has also announced that Demi Vollering has extended her contract through 2024.

Speaking at the team's pre-season presentation on Wednesday, Van den Broek-Blaak said that things had changed since she made her initial decision to stop riding back in 2020, with doubts arising as she got closer to her retirement date.

"When I made a decision in 2020 to stop cycling, I was super clear about it and stood 100 per cent behind it but then my situation was also different," she said. "I was a little bit done with some racing because I needed a bit more of a challenge and I was also racing for a long time already.

"Plus, my husband Lars had burnout, so it was a pretty difficult time and I realised health, happiness, family is the most important of everything, so I stopped. I quit. It's enough.

"But then my situation at home, changed. Lars is recovered and I really enjoy riding my bike. I love it every day. I'm still on a good level. I'm still able to train hard mentally and physically," she said.

"So I felt like when the date was coming closer, it was getting difficult and I didn't feel ready. Like Ashleigh said, you need to feel ready and she's totally right because I'm not. So I start talking at home about it and then I went with my husband to see SD Worx. And I said this is the thing – I'm not ready."

Team manager Danny Stam said that the team had hoped that she would ride the inaugural Tour de France Femmes this year before retiring and added that it was a pleasant surprise to hear that she wanted to continue with the squad beyond 2022.

"Initially, we had hoped that Chantal would still ride the Tour de France this year," he said. "We were therefore surprised, but also very happy with her proposal to continue until the end of 2024. She is of great value within the team. There are few riders of her calibre to be found.

"In addition, she continuously thinks in the interests of the team, which makes her of great value. Last year she still managed to win Strade Bianche, which indicates the high level at which she still performs. We respect Chantal's wish to have children. It is also a challenge to get her up to standard afterwards."

Van den Broek-Blaak said that she had held talks with her husband, family and the team before deciding to continue, with a major factor in staying in the peloton the freedom to try and have a child at the same time.

"We talked about our wish to have children one day. How, how can we do that? [Lars] said 'this must be not a thing and we can try this also during your career'.

"So we went with this whole story to SD Worx and we started talking about it. And actually, from the beginning, they were directly super positive and happy about it. So it turns out I signed until 2024.

"I have this full support from the team [racing and family]. So, if, if we are lucky that everything is falling on the right place, I can get pregnant and we can start a family and then try to make a comeback and the team will support me for full 100 per cent and I just don't want to plan my life like I did before.

"I feel super relieved and really happy about it. This says everything about the team. I am home here, I feel comfortable. I'm happy here, and they are happy with me."

The new deal with SD Worx will see Van den Broek-Blaak race through her 17th season in the professional peloton and take her through her 35th birthday. She has been with the squad since 2015, when it was then known as Boels-Dolmans, and has racked up 21 major victories since – including the Worlds road title, the Tour of Flanders, Strade Bianche, and Gent-Wevelgem.

Van den Broek-Blaak will kick off her 2022 season at Strade Bianche next month, while the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are set to be her major spring goals.

Vollering: I feel really in my place in this team

In addition to Van den Broek-Blaak's contract extension, Demi Vollering also announced that she would be staying with the team through 2024 just a year after joining from Parkhotel Valkenburg.

Vollering, who won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and La Course last season, said, "I signed for longer now and I'm really happy because I feel really in my place in this team. Everything here has felt good.

"It's important that the team have so much trust in me and want to continue with me for so long. That means a lot. I'm riding in the best team in the world so I don't want anything else."

Vollering will focus on the Spring Classics and the Tour de France Femmes in 2022 with an eye on the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. 

“I hope to be one of the best riders in the world in the run-up to the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. I really want to shine in the biggest races. I want to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France and win the Tour. Like last year, I am going for victory in the one-day classics, and I am hoping to win the World Championships as well.”

She is also aiming to help the younger riders on her team continue to develop including Niamh Fisher-Black, Anna Shackley and Blanka Kata Vas, with a goal to inspire the next generation of cyclists.

“I want to encourage others to have a healthy lifestyle with lots of outdoor activities, for example. I also hope to inspire the next generation of (young) girls to take up cycling," she said.