The best-laid training plans can change on a spin of a coin, or annoyingly in this case, a pothole in the foothills of Spain. As a newly recruited member of the MAAP Privateer Program, Freddy Ovett kindly gave over some of his essential recovery time to take us through how the rest of his season will look a little different.
If you're a solo rider, unaffiliated to a team, it can feel precarious and even sometimes exposed making a living a life all alone on the circuit. The MAAP Privateer Program was created to support those dedicated riders pushing boundaries out there on their own, usually found to be travelling from race to race, showing up with little to no support.
New to the Privateer Program is Freddy Ovett. Riding for UCI Continental and WorldTour teams since 2016, before taking silver at the UCI Esports World Championships in 2022, Freddy switched from road to gravel and started following the privateer path. Coming into the season, he was, by his own assessment, flying. Building on a solid winter spent in LA and the Santa Monica mountains before heading to the California Belgian Waffle Ride in San Diego.
With key targets in his sights – the Spanish round of the UCI Gravel World Cup and the Traka in Catalunya – Ovett headed for his home training ground in Dénia. That's when disaster struck.
"I unfortunately crashed pretty badly in training on a descent just south of Valencia. I hit a pothole, my bike wheel collapsed in front of me, and I tried to control it but couldn't. It ended up being a pretty high-speed crash where I broke three ribs and my scapula in four places. It was rough."
Rough is right. Planned events went out the window. It was time to refocus. And don't forget, as a privateer, there's no professional medical team stepping in to support you. No personal physios or doctors are on call. You're on your own.
"It was all quite unclear as to when I could get back on the road or to races," Ovett explains. "I took it upon myself to make a setup on Zwift at home and within seven days I was back in Watopia."
He goes on.
"It's quite hard as a privateer without a WorldTour team doctor behind me saying what my injuries mean in terms of professional cycling. I'm dealing with public hospitals that don't know what the specific demands on a professional cyclist might be. So when they say 'everything is on track', it doesn't necessarily mean I can ride a bike outdoors. It's hard for me to get the information and make decisions based on it."
At one point Ovett was entertaining the hope that he might yet be fit again for Unbound, one of the standout dates in the gravel calendar, but as time wore on, he had to let that dream go- for this year at least.
It hasn't been all doom and gloom though.
"With the reshuffle of my calendar, it's actually opened up a few more doors for races I just wouldn't have done. The Rift in Iceland at the end of July is something I'm going to be doing now, it's always a race that gets a lot of attention and looks like a lot of fun. It's definitely going to make the second half of the season a lot more busy, but I have to make up for [the injury] and not just be like an influencer on Instagram!"
Ovett says he has been hammering Zwift since leaving hospital, doing about three hours a day. It's the biggest indoor-only block he's done since the strident Spanish lockdown of 2020 had half the professional peloton shut up indoors, and he thinks he is now just a few weeks away from riding outdoors again.
When not on the trainer, Ovett has been keeping busy by helping his girlfriend redecorate their apartment – and pitching in with a particularly exciting (and personal) launch from MAAP. Created to celebrate Freddy becoming part of the Privateer Program, the Adapted F.O. Pro Air Jersey is designed with hard racing in mind. The jersey features an all-new warp knit sleeve with carbon yarn technology, offering abrasion resistance and superior strength for taking on the cut, thrust and occasional crash that go along with gravel pursuits.
As Freddy concludes, "It's been super exciting working on the kit release and I'm stoked for people to wear the jersey."
The Adapted F.O. Pro Air Jersey is part of the MAAP Privateer Collection that directly funds independent athletes like Freddy throughout the year. Having sold out in record time, lookout for more releases in the near future where your purchase directly supports a MAAP Privateer. And give Freddy a follow on social media and be sure to pass on a like or positive comment as his comeback continues. While being a privateer means he doesn't have an immediate team to rally around and show him some love - Freddy's team is all of us now.
