The only constant is change. It’s as true for professional cyclists as any other walk of life. On the WorldTour, unpredictability is ever-present. You might be slated for a training block in Andorra one minute, then brought in to race a monument the next.
You don’t know when you’ll be at home, or for how long. Making plans with family or mates outside the sport is a never-ending game of moving goalposts. And that’s all before you even reach the start line.
Cycle racing is by its nature anarchic. A rattling, juddering juggernaut of chaos. Pandemonium on wheels. You can’t fight it. But maybe, on your best day, you can flow through it and emerge unscathed – victorious, even.
For Ruby Roseman-Gannon, uncertainty makes for an uneasy friendship.
“I kind of hate it, actually. I'm someone who is searching for certainty. Answers and the truth. Maybe not ‘the truth’ but the most accurate or realistic solution to the chaos.”
In the Liv-AlUla-Jayco rider’s case, racing means relinquishing. Letting go of a desire for control.
“I'm generally quite risk averse in every other aspect of my life. I feel racing – and particularly Belgian classics racing – you have to throw all of that out the window and just be part of it. Not really think too much.”
She speaks to us the night before Omloop Nieuwsblad, the traditional curtain-raiser for the spring classics. Nowhere else is that chaotic essence of bike racing better distilled than on the cobbles of Belgium.
Grand Tour racing is sometimes criticised for being ‘too controlled’, especially in periods where one team or another is strong enough to dominate. But the classics are joyously untameable.
“If you're not one of the top, top riders you've got to take a chance and get lucky. Have everything align. Because you're not going to ride everyone off the wheel. So you have to be smart with how you race and also just have a bit of luck on your side.”
Chasing the predictable
Professional cycling is a scientific sport. The margins seem to get finer every year. The ‘one percent’ marginal gains of the 2010s have been shaved down to decimals. Team leadership and athletes alike are now hunting for 0.3 or 0.4 of a percent.
27-year-old Roseman-Gannon has raced professionally in the WorldTour since joining GreenEDGE Cycling in 2022.
“More than other sports, we look for every advantage. From our low fibre pre-race carb loading, to optimising nutrition on the bike. I'm always thinking about what kit I wear for these races because you're balancing multiple factors like the cold, aerodynamics, sometimes weight.”
The biggest single thing a pro athlete can do to control the outcome of a competition? Preparation.
“Knowing I’ve done everything to prepare well physically gives me confidence. Even going into a major race, or one I’m uncertain about,” she says.
“Having your routine dialled, and doing everything in your power that can optimise your performance. That’s honestly when I've felt my most confident is after doing a really good training block. Then mentally you also become really strong through hard training blocks.”
The move up to the sport’s top echelon was a leap in every sense, from relocating across the globe, to levelling up her kit, equipment and regimen.
“Knowing you have fast equipment gives you confidence. I know from the past, I guess when you haven't had everything, when you weren't professional. In one sense, you can't waste time worrying about it. You just have to race.
“But yeah, it's undeniable that your equipment directly impacts your performance to a degree.”
Within the team group, Ruby has garnered a rep, linked to her desire for the best preparation possible.
“I’m notorious for having the longest stem notes. It was a habit I built when I first moved to Europe. All these roads were totally unfamiliar, so I would write a lot down. Pinch points. Climbs to be on the wheels for.”
She still uses tools like VeloViewer to scout the race routes well in advance – and the team will recon in the real world before each block of racing – but as Roseman-Gannon has built experience, she is able to rely more on what she knows than what’s written on her stem.
“To be honest, I don't look at my notes so much these days. I think the process of writing them is useful in ensuring you know it. But it’s also been a few years and I know the roads of Belgium way better.”
If Roseman-Gannon is among the more meticulous, which teammate is the most chaotic on Liv-AlUla-Jayco?
“Letty [Paternoster]! I think everyone would agree, she’d agree herself. In the best way. We love her.
“In the bunch she’s incredible, she just goes through these gaps. I know hers is a wheel to follow. Definitely a rider you want on your team, not the other team.”
If there’s a recipe for success in cycling, then, it likely includes solid training, ample research, teammates you trust, and a healthy dash of acceptance when it comes to things you can’t control.
“There are definitely still elements of racing I feel anxiety about. Crashes being the main one. I guess it's something that I’ve reckoned with, though. Talking to a psychologist, talking to other people. The truth is that I still love racing, and I don't want to give that up.
“If that's my reality, then I just have to jump in the deep end.”
And of course, there’s always the future to think of.
“There’s no mundanity as a pro cyclist. Once I eventually retire, get into a routine in a normal job, I’ll probably get quite restless and start missing the chaos.”
