Introducing: Valentina Cavallar – The Olympic rower turned promising Grand Tour racer who was inspired by the Tour de France Femmes

If the quietly promising Valentina Cavallar wasn't already on cycling fans' radars before, she certainly will be in 2026, after becoming one of just two new recruits to one of the peloton's most important teams, SD Worx-Protime.

Following a rapid ascension from non-cyclist to future Grand Tour contender, Austria's Cavallar joined the Dutch squad at the start of this year, and is one of the most interesting – yet still not very well known – prospects in the bunch.

A top-level rower through her teens and early 20s, the 24-year-old represented Austria at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing 14th in the lightweight double sculls. But after a decade on the water, a cycling trip to watch the 2022 Tour de France Femmes set her sailing in a different direction.

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Despite only joining the pro peloton in mid-2024, Cavallar made waves very quickly with some seriously impressive results, including fourth at the Alpes Gresivaudan Classic, second at the National Championships, and then seventh atop Alpe d'Huez in her Tour de France debut.

Her clear talent had earned her a multi-year contract with Arkéa-B&B Hotels, but when that team folded, the door opened to step up to the Women's WorldTour – and it was none other than women's cycling's original super team that secured her signature. Cavallar joined SD Worx-Protime for 2026, and has a three-year contract there, where she'll be one of their next big climbing hopes.

Just a few days into the new year, Cavallar made her first appearance for the team at their launch in Antwerp. Cyclingnews sat down with other media for a roundtable discussion with the young Austrian, to discuss her entry into the sport, the challenges in the peloton, and her dreams for the future – which are already big.

Q: You were in the Olympics as a rower and now you're in one of the best cycling teams in the world, how did that happen? When did you know it was time to change sports?

VC: I started rowing at 13 and I was rowing until 2022. I have been a passionate rower for 10 years, so a really long time, but we always trained a lot on the indoor bike. It was not on the road, mainly indoors, as endurance trainer. I was at the Olympics in 2021, and the year afterwards I still tried to pursue my rowing goals because yeah, I was at the Olympics, but I was only in the B finals, so it was not a super success for me personally and I was also quite young at only 20.

But then at the training camp the next year, we were on the German-French border, and we went with our road bikes and it was when the Tour de France Femmes happened and we followed one of the stages on the Petit Ballon. There I fell in love with my bike, and it was so special that I thought 'yeah, I really want to do this, it would be a dream to become a professional cyclist'. A year later, I thought 'OK, I will give myself a go and just try it' and I think if you love what you're doing, you can achieve the goals you set for yourself, and this is what I did.

Q: Can you tell us a bit more about what you did for work whilst you were a rower?

VC: I worked a little bit as a fitness coach alongside rowing. I did this for maybe one or two years, and then before the Olympics I stopped, and my parents helped me a little bit financially. In rowing, you don't get paid for being a rower, only if you go to the military [in Austria] but I waited really long for a spot in the military. In 2022 I got a spot, but it was already too late, because I already knew that I wanted to become a cyclist, so it wasn't an option anymore.

I'm still studying law, but just more as a hobby, a little bit in the winter.

Q: What do you love most about cycling, and what is the biggest change in your life after switching sports?

VC: It's a completely different sport of course. First overall, a rowing race was only eight minutes long, and you had your own lane and you only had to go all-out, you didn't have so many tactics, you didn't have a team radio, you didn't have to figure out how to fuel during the race because it's so short. In cycling, you have so many different components, like the nutrition on the bike, the other teams, the team tactics and different race tactics, the length of the race – it's three to four hours longer – so this makes it also exciting.

There are so many areas, I'm still so inexperienced so I can still learn a lot and there are still areas I want to improve and can improve a lot. This is for me the biggest difference between the two sports. The biggest benefit is that in rowing, you couldn't make a living from the sport, I was also working alongside training and racing, and this made it really not sustainable. Luckily the women's side is developing rapidly in cycling, and I caught a good timing, so you can make a living out of it, so this is a big, big privilege.

Q: There are a lot of riders who come from other sports and have big engines, but we hear stories of them struggling with riding in the peloton, how was that side of things for you?

VC: Definitely this also still one of my biggest weaknesses, riding in the peloton, the descending, and finding my space in the peloton, this is definitely something I struggled with a lot in my first season. Which is completely natural, I think, and especially not being a sprinter kind of rider, it's even harder to learn those things. But as I also said before, this is one of the things that makes it so exciting, because I love to learn and improve, and I know that I can be a good rider in the peloton and a good descender, but it needs time and I still need to make those improvements. But it's not something I see as a really bad thing, because it's another thing I can improve to be a better and more successful rider.

Q: What is the challenge about being in the peloton, is it the mentality?

VC: I had my first race last year [2024] in Chambéry, it was a 1.2 race I think, so not a WorldTour race, but my first time riding in the peloton, and I remember that the first thing I noticed, even before the race started, I was standing in the peloton and we were all waiting for the start, and I could feel how close we were to each other. You heart rate is already elevated, it's already a bit loud, there are a lot of noises. This made it hard to not lose too much energy.

Now I'm a bit more used to riding in the peloton, but I waste a lot of energy, because there's so much you need to be attentive to, sometimes it's noisy or hectic, you're touching each other, touching wheels, maybe there's a crash or road furniture you didn't see. There's so many factors that make your nervous system be a bit more alert, and this uses a lot of energy. For me this is the main problem, because when I'm riding all the time in the peloton, I can feel that I'm getting really tired, so sometimes I couldn't ride there for the whole race, and then I'm at the back of the peloton and then you waste more energy closing gaps.

Q: The first time you showed yourself at a world-class level was at the Tour de France in 2024, and it surprised people when you were there in the final of the Queen stage. Did you surprise yourself there too?

VC: It was for sure a really big achievement. I can't exactly define it as a surprise. I mean, it was only afterwards that I really realised that it was a big achievement to climb with the best in the world. I didn't believe myself that I would manage to do this in my first season as a cyclist, and I hadn't done any races before last year. I did my first stage race at Itzulia and then my first Tour de France, it was only my fifteenth race or something so I didn't have any big expectations. But deep down I always knew that I love climbing so much and that I'm at home at the mountains and I can climb really well if the shape is there, if the training goes well, and my endurance capacity helps me a lot on the climbs.

Q: What are you main goals for this year, your first season with SD Worx-Protime?

VC: It's a huge step up. Everything is completely different, in a positive way. First of all, for me the biggest advantage is that I can learn from some of the best riders in the world, and this is exactly what I always wanted to have, that I could learn from teammates – ride with them, for them, and help them to win races. I want to race because I want to win, and this is exactly what this team is made for.

Q: Has it been a shock to be in a Dutch team with all these Dutch riders and staff, who can be quite direct?

VC: Honestly I love it! It's really one of the things I appreciate. For me, being honest but also direct is one of the most profound characteristics, and this helps to be more professional, to get feedback ASAP, no matter if it's harsh or hard or you don't want to hear it or something. It's important, especially in terms of mistakes or the professional side, to have it this way. I have already had some bad experiences where if people are not completely direct they can talk behind each other's backs, and for a team that's not worth it. So I like this Dutch way of communicating between each other, it's a positive thing.

Q: What will your programme look like in 2026?

VC: The team is taking it a little bit more slowly with me, so I don't have any races before March basically, and then the programme is still not completely clear. For sure I will do Itzulia and the Vuelta, so the Spanish block, and Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. But before then, what my first real race will be, the team will sort out a little bit later in January.

Q: Are there any particular races where you want to get a good result for yourself?

VC: For this first year, I will try to take it one step at a time, but I definitely want to win stage races, and I definitely want to win Grand Tours in the future, maybe starting this year already but in the future this is a long-term goal. This year I definitely want to win one climbing finish in a stage race.