Shirin van Anrooij was quietly confident about the Spring Classics before going into them, but the 21-year-old was expecting to play more of a team role rather than experience the weight of expectation on her own shoulders.
After a successful cyclocross season that saw her take the U23 world title, the 2022 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift white jersey winner had her sights set on the Ardennes Classics on the road.
“I made a goal before this season to just try and be at a good level and then I don’t know, I did not really mean at a level to really try hard for a result, but now I feel like maybe some people around me are expecting a bit more than I expected,” she tells CyclingTips ahead of Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race.
“But then at the same time, I’m in a good shape and I made a big step. It’s just nice to know from Wednesday [at Brabantse Pijl] that I had a really good feeling but I was just empty. I just hope to take that good feeling with me for the upcoming three races. The races are for sure going to be nice, and hopefully a bit nicer with the legs,” she says.
The reason Van Anrooij finds herself pushed further into the spotlight than she may have anticipated is not only down to her cyclocross success, but also her impressive season on the road so far. After finishing her ‘cross season at the world championships on the 5th February, Van Anrooij took a break before returning to the road, winning her second race of the year, Trofeo Alfredo Binda in emphatic style. A month later, she claimed 8th place at Tour of Flanders, forming part of a select group including her teammate Elisa Longo Borghini, until just before the very end of the race.
After prominent performances in such high level races, it’s no wonder that Van Anrooij is being held up as a favorite for the Ardennes, especially since they feature hillier terrain which she thrives in. Does this expectation bring pressure for her?
“No, I don’t think so. Maybe a bit. But not like pressure that I’m already nervous or something like that. And that’s maybe also because we have such a strong team and with both Elisas [Longo Borghini and Balsamo] but also Amanda [Spratt] and Lucinda [Brand] and Gaia [Realini] like there are so many riders that can get a good result,” she explains.
“So I think it just really depends on the day and on how everyone’s feeling. Because also so far, I don’t know what my role will be in the races. But yeah, I think it will be just really cool to be there in the final with numbers of the team. And then just see who’s feeling really good. So I don’t know about myself about going for results yet but I’ll for sure try to have a good race again and be there in the final.”
Such is the luxury of racing for a team like Trek-Segafredo, says Van Anrooij, in that it affords her the ability to race for her own result when the time is right but without the expectation of being an out-and-out leader.
“It takes away a lot of pressure, just to know that not everything relies on you for a race. And that’s just what I like about the team as well, that I can still ride a bit in the shadow from the real team leaders. Or at least that’s what it feels like for me still,” she says.
“Of course, there’s pressure also for example, this Sunday, at Amstel Gold Race: it’s in the Netherlands, really close to Maastricht where I am for half of the year. So it feels a bit like a home race. But yeah that also makes it extra exciting to race here.”
Now 21-years-old, Van Anrooij has been part of the Trek-Segafredo road team since the tail-end of 2020, when she was just 18. It was a big step up for a rider as young as Van Anrooij at the time, and it has taken her until recently to feel confident in her position in the Women’s WorldTour peloton.
“I just felt that I really had to get used to also riding in the elite bunch and with positioning I don’t know, I sometimes look up to the riders a bit too much instead of thinking that I am also one of those riders,” she explains.
“But I think I made a really big step like last cyclocross season to really ride for the win myself and believe in it that I could also do it. That’s just really something I need to be thankful for to the road and cyclocross team for just giving me the confidence I needed and for giving me the time to grow into this as well. And also in the team, we have Elisabetta, the psychologist and she is also just really helpful to talk to you before a race and taking away a bit of the nerves and taking away a bit of your doubts.”
Van Anrooij explains how her experienced teammates, too, have encouraged and advised her: “They really help a lot. And that’s what I like about riding in such a strong team just because there are so many experienced riders around me… I did talk a lot about that to for example Elisa Longo Borghini and Lucinda during Dwars Door Vlaanderen and Flanders and it’s just helpful because they also say like, you can only learn by making mistakes. And Ina [Teutenberg, former pro turned team director] was also really helpful for that. They all experienced the same thing and it’s just nice that they gave me the chance to try and to make mistakes without hard feelings.”
Managing expectations
During the most recent cyclocross season Van Anrooij went into every race as one of a trio of favorites, all aged 20 and 21, alongside Puck Pieterse and Fem van Empel.
“I think from outside, a lot of people have really high expectations. And sometimes I feel like they’re already expecting things that are maybe not even possible just because we’re still so young,” she says.
“I think if you look at the cyclocross season everyone was just expecting like one of the three of us to win in almost every race. And sometimes you already feel it, that the expectations are there. But then at the same time I think last year, I would have not been able to deal with that pressure and I would have not performed but now, I can turn it a bit more into that the expectations are there because they think that I should have the level and that they believe in it that I can do it. Now maybe I take it a bit more as motivation instead of like a bad influence.”
Reaching the top of both disciplines so early on in her career comes with the challenge of reigning in both external pressures and Van Anrooij’s own ambitions. Both the Trek road and cyclocross set ups that she races for are aligned in ensuring that Van Anrooij develops her career in a sustainable way.
“I’m coached by a coach from the road team and I think they’re just trying to slow it down a bit, or just make sure that I know that I have still a lot of time to grow, and that they want me to be at a good level in a few years time and not just maybe win races next year and then quit because I did way too much,” she says.
“For me, it’s just nice that the team is just really trying to save me a bit more. Because if it would have been me, I would have raced Strade already, for example, this year, straight after cyclocross but then both teams just said, ‘no, you need a break.’ So I think that’s a really good thing.”
Van Anrooij and the teams balance the two seasons by allowing her to take breaks at the end of each road and ‘cross season while still joining the training camps for each team during summer and winter respectively. She rarely races double weekends in ‘cross, and her road program is managed so that she isn’t overfaced.
“I think the most important is just that both teams are working together and they both want me to be a better athlete in a few years time instead of just only this year. But, for me, it’s important that the team is slowing me down sometimes. Because if you’re in good shape, you feel like you can keep going until you can’t go anymore. And they just make sure I quit before I can’t go anymore,” she explains.
Chasing dreams
Balancing both road and cross seasons is something Van Anrooij hopes to be able to continue, but she is also aware that she may need to curtail her ‘cross if she is to chase her dreams on the road.
“I’m still discovering so much more on the road and still developing a lot more on the road. So I think I just want to see what I can do on the road. I like cyclocross, racing too much to not do it anymore, just because it’s so much fun, and I just really like it. But in the end, I do want to see what I can do on the road. But I think cyclocross is also helping me to become a better road rider,” she says.
Stage racing is her forte, as she demonstrated at the Tour de France Femmes last year where she won the young rider’s jersey and placed 14th overall after strong performances in the final mountain-heavy weekend. Inevitably, that result begs the question of whether she hopes to target the GC for herself one day?
“I would really love to be able to do that. That would be a really big dream come true to try and go for a GC in like the Giro or the Tour. But so far, I don’t really know if it will be possible. I’m still discovering a lot more with racing the Tour last year and winning the white jersey then. Of course, it will be a goal to try and really improve in racing a GC because I just really love stage racing, but sometimes it’s hard to set those goals or speak about those goals, just because you don’t know if it’s possible to reach them,” she hedges.
It brings us back to the topic of confidence. In contrast to many top athletes, Van Anrooij is reluctant to – publicly at least – set the bar too high for herself when it comes to future goals.
“I’m really not a person to say something like that. I think, also to make sure that there’s not too much pressure from outside and like too high expectations. But also, just because I’m not someone who has that confidence to just say like, ‘okay, this year, I’m going to win this or that.’ I have my dreams, and I have my goals but I’m not someone who’s like screaming them out loud.”
This tempering of pressure and ambition is part of the reason why Van Anrooij will not return to the Tour to defend the white jersey this season. Instead, she will race the Giro Donne: “The team decided to put me on the Giro. Just like there’s a bit less pressure on that race than the tour and as I also raced the Tour last year,” she explains.
The other reason that she will race the Giro over the Tour is that she aims to target the time trial world championships, which will take place just a few weeks after the Tour ends. She is the current U23 national and European champion in the discipline. “Worlds will be pretty close to the Tour. So looking in general it would be better for me to go to altitude, race the Giro and then hopefully get the chance to race worlds. But I know, I’m reserve for Tour so you never know what will happen,” she says.
Back to the coming Ardennes week, Van Anrooij insists that she is open to any outcome: “I don’t really know, I just hope it will be a hard race. But yeah, I think that for sure SD Worx will try to make it a hard race as well, try to go on the attack. I think we just need to make sure to not let them go on the attack without us being in there. I think maybe a bit like last year that it will come back together a lot of times, but then on the final Cauberg just a few riders will be stronger than the rest and then will go to the finish. Or at least that’s what happens a lot of the times in Amstel,” she says, before deflecting the limelight away from herself: “I’m not sure. For example, we also have Balsamo who can ride a really good sprint and can also climb really well. So I think it will for sure be a smaller group going towards the finish but it’s hard to know how small the group will be.”
“Anything can happen in every race. Because before Binda I would have never expected to go solo there and win the race. But yeah, in the end, I was able to stay at the front there. So I think in races like this also with Amstel and Fleche sometimes weird things can happen.”
She may describe it as “weird”, but to those following her career, there would be nothing strange about Van Anrooij mixing with the favorites or taking another big win.
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