Aussie Ascents: On High With Privateer Freddy Ovett
For Freddy Ovett, the privateer life is a privilege not a privation. His has been a long and winding road in cycling – although, like a lot of endurance athletes, he started out in running. When he made the switch to the bike and started racing the U23 scene in Australia, his ascent was meteoric. Within months he’d been signed by the devo team of a UCI WorldTour outfit – and since then he has plied his trade in Europe, stepping up to stagiaire in the main squad for a couple of WorldTour teams, before realising that the endless battle for the next contract was grinding him down.
With plenty of candle left to burn, but a revised perspective on the sport, Ovett wanted to become the master of his own destiny.
“I think I just grew tired of it and sought to find something different,” he says. “I rode for Legion of Los Angeles for two years. It was definitely when it was at its peak. It was very different and radical and that really helped bring me out of my shell. After those two years, that led to me moving into the privateer space.”
Now, Ovett is free to “make my own mistakes” as he puts it, liberated from the need to sit within an organisational structure and a sport which – at times – treats athletes as not much more than performance machines or chess pieces moved about a board. Told where to go and when, with not much agency.
“It took quite a few years for me to realise, maybe it wasn’t for me. Even though all my power numbers and everything told me it was. You work so hard and give up a lot. I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘oh, you know, I didn't get my fair chance’, I definitely did.”
For him, it was as much a choice about people as performance.
“The complexities and difficulties that I used to deal with off the bike, the stress of a team dynamic and trying to please people you shouldn't really need to be pleasing. I think that really impacted the way I was able to be happy at races and to perform to my level, and just enjoy racing.”
These days it’s different, he explains.
“Every day I'm reminded that I'm lucky to do what I'm doing. There have been a few times where I saw someone wearing my MAAP jersey out on the road, and that was really quite special. Or people tag me in stories or posts of them wearing my kit, and they're stoked on it. And that's just crazy to me.”
One of the things Ovett relishes most about his privateer era is the ability to pick his own calendar, even if that does mean booking all his own travel.
“That's obviously an insane freedom to have, to not have to go to Belgium in the pouring rain and winter just because the team says so, and get my ass kicked. That's obviously a luxury.”
When we talk, Ovett has just returned from a trip to Kenya where he was slated to do the Safari Gravel Race, a round of the UCI’s Gravel World Series, followed immediately by the multi-day Migration Gravel Race. Although he touched down in Nairobi as planned, his bike did not.
“When you’re at a bike race with no bike, you quickly realise how fragile your existence is and how lost you are without it. I guess an example of how this privateer life can go wrong real quickly, and it's on you to clean it up real quick as well.”
His bike did eventually arrive in time for Ovett to start the Migration Race, but his participation was cut short by a crash.
Even when he’s switching off, his head is never really out of the world of endurance and sport. Ovett admits to getting absorbed in other athletes’ lives.
“I’m constantly scouring for things on YouTube, keeping up with athletes; I just think there's so much good content out there now that as a fan of, of anything really, you can just jump onto YouTube and follow a bunch of cool athletes and brands. I think it's just really nice to see how different people approach training and racing and just a daily life.”
Still just 30, Ovett definitely has more time on the clock and says that “as long as I’m still competitive, as long as I can remain relevant, I don’t think I’ll stop racing any time soon,” but it’s also interesting to know what he’s learned in the past decade in the sport.
What would he say, for instance, to the 20-year old version of himself who just arrived in France to join his first professional development team?”
“Just chill out a bit,” he smiles. “I was extremely motivated and that was a strength but definitely to my detriment as well. It’s really easy to have tunnel vision as an athlete and think that this race this weekend, this season, this contract is, is the be all and end all. Or if it doesn't work out, then the world's going to end.
“I just don't think that's a healthy mindset to live in as a young 20-year-old on the other side of the world, away from your family.”
Doing bits – quick ones with
Freddy Ovett
My girlfriend and I like to eat.
We live on the Mediterranean so food here is quite good and quite cheap. We eat out a lot.
Typical cyclist, I love coffee.
It’s a bit cringe, a bit cliché to say, but yeah I’m a big fan of coffee. Always try and build that into my day.
When I started cycling I hit a lot of Melbourne landmarks.
When I had to switch from running at a US university, I jumped into the Melbourne road cycling scene. Beach Road, bunch rides. All that good stuff.
The Traka is my favourite race.
It’s kind of a home race, my girlfriend's from Girona, and that's where I grew up in Europe.
Maybe one day I could ride Leadville.
Everyone always says that it's the one mountain bike race that a gravel-road guy could do. And it has such a massive history and legacy that maybe I could think about doing that one day. But that's a long shot.
I run a marathon every year.
I’m just trying to run a bit quicker every year and I've managed to do that in the last three years. It’s a really fun project. I’m obviously not competitive at these marathons whatsoever. I'm just doing it because I want to do it. And I think that's a really nice way to finish the season.
