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HOW I BECAME A PRO CYCLIST IN ONE YEAR | ROADMAN PODCAST

with Roadman Podcast

30:18·6 July 2023

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Michael Vink got his UAE Team Emirates contract at 30, a decade older than Pogačar — and only after he stopped obsessing over going pro and started enjoying the lifestyle.
The downfall of most aspiring pros: trying too hard. Vink credits the late-career break to relaxing, riding Mywhoosh, and letting the right things happen.
Going pro isn't just about watts/kg numbers. It's the whole package — travel, foreign cultures, sleep, nutrition, performing in unfamiliar environments. Numbers without lifestyle don't get you there.
Anthony's frame: Vink is the Silicon Valley garage kid of cycling. Engineering pro-level infrastructure on a shoestring before any team paid for it.
The current generation has it easier — WhatsApp, global cycling networks, more pathways from small countries. Vink's generation, no Wi-Fi at the BMX Bouygues Telecom service course in France, wrote home with topped-up Skype accounts.

A New Zealand cyclist shares his unlikely journey to landing a UAE Team Emirates contract at age 30 after years of grinding as an amateur racer. He reveals how shifting from obsessive goal-chasing to enjoying the lifestyle itself became the turning point, plus digs into what it actually takes to survive at the WorldTour level—spoiler: it's not just raw watts per kilogram.

Key Takeaways

Stopping the relentless obsession with going pro and instead enjoying the lifestyle and racing itself paradoxically led to the breakthrough contract offer
Modern WorldTour racing demands fatigue resistance and positioning ability, not just peak power numbers—doing 6 watts/kg fresh means nothing if you're dropped on the climb after 4 hours of racing
Consistency and durability trump intermittent perfection; most pros race at 80-90% fitness due to previous races, illness, or travel, so staying healthy and avoiding crashes matters more than chasing peak form
The sport has become dramatically safer and more accessible for international riders due to better team development systems, technology, and global connectivity—but crashes are now more dangerous due to higher speeds and aerodynamic equipment
Good domestiques are becoming a lost art; the unglamorous work of protecting your leader, reading the race, and doing small unseen things separates excellent support riders from average ones

Expert Quotes

"I'd rather be a guy that's a good domestique than an average leader. Whatever I do I want to do my job well and have the respect of everyone in the bunch."

"It's the sort of all-encompassing lifestyle where it's about the travelling, it's about people, it's about different cultures, it's about performing in foreign environments—that's what carried me so long in my career."

"There's a word that comes before cycling that's professional. It's racing with antibiotics, racing when you're injured, racing traveling that evening and racing again the next day."

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

Each tagged with the strength of evidence behind it.

ANECDOTE
Michael Vink landed his UAE Team Emirates WorldTour contract at age 30, approximately a decade older than Tadej Pogačar was when he won the Tour de France for the first time.
Source: Michael Vink, professional cyclist (UAE Team Emirates)
OPINION
Vink credits stepping back from obsessive goal-chasing — and shifting focus to enjoying training and racing Mywhoosh — as the change that preceded his WorldTour contract offer.
Source: Michael Vink first-person account
EXPERT
Successful WorldTour-level performance depends on the full lifestyle package (sleep, nutrition, foreign-environment adaptability, travel tolerance), not solely on power-to-weight ratios — a frequent misunderstanding among aspiring pros.
Source: Michael Vink on the Roadman Cycling Podcast
OPINION
Globalisation of cycling — including improved communication infrastructure (WhatsApp, Wi-Fi) and broader development pathways — has reduced the isolation that previously caused riders from small countries like New Zealand to abandon European racing careers.
Source: Michael Vink, comparing his early-career experience to current neo-pros

KEY QUOTES

“I think you'll get 98 of the way there just doing the simple things so think it is lodging the equipment but yeah the bikes we have now particularly with your tires and aerodynamics and the clothing is a big one the helmets it all certainly adds up”
Anthony Walsh — Professional cyclist, UAE World Tour contract

“the biggest island of this season is really just being consistently good rather than trying to intermittently perfect I think is the key particularly for someone in my role that's more of a domestic type guy”
Anthony Walsh — Professional cyclist, UAE World Tour contract

“you've got 170 guys who are trying to be in the same place at the same time um so that's when it gets super hard so I think that's definitely became I think more of a thing the positioning and like I said with the fact that there is a list of difference between the best guys and the worst guys”
Anthony Walsh — Professional cyclist, UAE World Tour contract

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT8 SECTIONS

From Zwift to World Tour

Speeds are getting scarier and scarier this is what I wonder what all the Aero stuff it's like is the racing just so much safer if no one has the aerial stuff 98 of the way there just doing the simple things you've got 170 guys all trying to be in the same place at the same time the next winner it did super hard so I think you're literally a decade older than today pogacha who's won the Tour twice like grow up how did you silence those critics how did you silence that voice and still maintain their lifestyle that it takes to produce the numbers to get to the world it's the sort of all-enhancing Lifestyle where it's about traveling it's about people it's about emotic cultures it's about performing in foreign about the racing podcast yeah thanks nice to meet you I've heard many great things I was nice I'm imagining somebody that spends their whole Road cycling career trying to turn professional they have this dream of going to the world to order working part-time jobs they're hustling they're self-coaching scraping cash together you hit your turkeys all your mates and your family are kind of gone pocket embody you're a dreamer the hopes are dashed then out of nowhere you get a call from UAE offer you a contract what the hell happened uh that's a good question to be honest there's something I'm still sort of asking myself now I mean I was at that stage when it when it did sort of kick off that I hadn't given up over a ride in the world tour but it has become more of a case of just enjoying riding my bike enjoying the lifestyle rather than this Relentless pursuit of being professional um I think that was probably a bit of a downfall in my early years uh trying to go pro was just almost trying too hard you know like sometimes you just have to relax and let things slide let things go and the right things happened and and essentially I think that's really the way it happened with my whoosh in in getting this this world to a contract all of a sudden wasn't obsessing over the small things as much and and was just reading my links to the talking um whatever I was doing and I think that was a big part of of me getting to where I am now because anyone that's been around cycling for long enough you'll have seen these characters and people are going to be nodding and agreement to this that they had a dream of going pro when they started out their cycling career and it's like the the heavyweight boxer that takes a fight too many and everyone's saying like oh come on pack it up they hold on to this stream into their late 20s and into their early 30s and you're kind of looking at them and you're like come on Peter Pan it's time to grow up like you can't live in your mom's basement riding your bike 25 hours a week telling people you're gonna turn pro you're literally a decade older than today for gacha who's won the Tour twice like grow up how did you you know silence those critics how did you silence that voice and still maintain the lifestyle that it takes to produce the numbers to get to the World Tour well I think that that's the big thing it's the lifestyle thing I think lots of people misunderstand what being a pro actually is they think it's just about producing numbers and being able to write a quick write up a client and have me watch the kilo and doing this but it's the sort of all-encompassing Lifestyle where it's about the traveling it's about people it's about you know different cultures it's about performing in foreign environments it's about sort of the whole package and that's something I always enjoyed about the racing or that the writing not just the actual physical writing itself and I think that's what carried me so long into my career and and still sort of racing to where I live when I was 30 it was for me it was always about the whole package not just the writing and I think if you keep doing what what comes naturally and what you enjoy um and keep following that path then eventually um the right things will happen and I think that was that was the case for me it was but it was really just a case of not trying too hard I think in the end which is which is funny because lots of guys obsessed over the small details for the whole career and just sort of eats them up you know and and that that quest for that Pro contract almost becomes harder the

Engineering a Pro Setup on a Budget

Junior almost the actual contract itself you know book about you've been a bit too modest here it's not just don't try to her there's plenty of our listeners now who are doing like one wash per kilogram and they're going I'm not trying too hard no one's offering me a world tour contract you know it's the golden hour to six squats per kilogram you're doing more than having this lazy Freya hands-off attitude of not trying hard there's a lifestyle of sleep Dyers nutrition supplements you Engineers you know I'm not sure how knowingly I'm sure quite deliberately you engineered their infrastructure that World Tour Riders have on a shoestring budget it's like the classic Silicon Valley bootstrap and where you know some kid in a basement with a laptop builds this amazing social number Network that you know the best funded companies in the world can't do you're that kid in cycling terms in the Silicon Valley garage yeah I mean you have to have the Raw Talent there's no doubt about that um and I think that's always been there um I think you know after how many guys in the world tour there are I think there are a lot more guys that could potentially be in that pool sometimes it's just a case of the right place right time and getting their small things right even though so the off-bike things the lifestyle the living um just the general sort of sort of welfare um as often that last five or ten percent that you need to make that step up so um I think it's definitely getting a lot better these days it's a lot more Global sport it's easier for Riders from small countries like New Zealand to come over to Europe and to have that support and actually get a proper go at it um I think yeah my generation was was the one that was sort of the last of the ones that really do it tough over in Europe when I first went to Europe 10 years ago there was not many kiwis not many foreigners uh over here and um it was definitely I think a lot a lot harder than this now you know like he had to if you wanted to call home he had to top up your Skype account you know with a few dollars and there was no Facebook messenger and WhatsApp and all that sort of stuff so it was it was a different world back then but I think now it's becoming I think a lot easier um and hopefully more guys get the chance yeah I have I had no Wi-Fi when I was in France living there racing and yeah I was like France it's like a 90-minute flight or two-hour flight from Dublin no it it may as well have been a 20 hour flight you felt so isolated because you didn't know what was going on with your friends back home it's like oh no this is horrible I'm homesick like I'm only gone a day exactly it's a funny story actually I was um the first year I went to France at mostly in 2009 or something I was staying with the BMX blue Telecom team which is one of the big telecommunications uh teams in France um at their main service course and it was probably the worst thing I've ever had in my my life so literally in the home base of this team that was sponsored by the national telecommunications company still couldn't get in touch with back home so it kind of goes to show how sort of cover for Iceland was back then which I think a lot of people struggled with a lot of guys that are fell by the wayside and um and gave it up too early but I think if you can battle through those times I think it creates some some pretty tough bike riders so I think the new generations definitely uh I don't want to say soft but um they've got it a lot easier and they certainly don't have the struggles that that we had that sort of made us as resilient as we are now the guys from our generation anyway how important was jvy and getting the contract to True Swift so I know I had Jay on the podcast of me doing this kind of year in the life of a neopro where he came back on three or four times inside I'd say it was three or four times inside his first year with Alpha synthetics have a chat to him about six months now since he's Billy big time on UAE so let's come back up and see on but how important was that to have someone like Jay to make it real and say okay here's a kid from my part of

Getting Signed Through Virtual Racing

The world who hasn't come through the traditional structure traditional pathway of gone to a Belgian team signing for a French team InterContinental climbing the ranks and then into the world tour past that he actually came through another online platform is a bit different and then I think Jay came purely from a virtual racing sort of background whereas I'm a guy that came from a traditional background then did the virtual racing that scene ended up in the world tour but I think the Jay's story is is great because it's show good to attains that guys that can ride on the home trainer can't just ride on the home trainer you know if you can do those numbers on the home trainer you can do those numbers up and mountain in the world of spania and I think that sort of opened a few teams eyes Mr okay we actually need to start taking this seriously because we might miss out on the next Jay Ryan can you give us your numbers that you wrote was there like the my whoosh was it a they looked at your overall data and they said based on all this data this dude's wrote a contract or was there like a elimination series that you actually won out on no no so it was a case of um just me basically doing the racing with them over a number of months and then sort of take notes and ignore the sky maybe there's something and then I got a phone call from them saying can we do further testing and then from there I um got in touch with a local sports scientist they sent the testing protocol through they the views with the the wheelchair team like the test and obviously impressed them and yeah the rest is history can you give us the numbers it was like a like a rank test type thing it was a lot through with lactate as well so there's a few different parameters in there it's not just a case of this many wasp a kilo for this amount of minutes um yeah yeah no I think yeah it's hard because I think lots of people sort of blow that they won't stick everything out of the water a week like you know there's some guys on this team that are absolutely amazing over a 10 20 minute effort when they're fresh you know the best guys in the team but then put them in a race after four hours and they're not the guys we would ride for so it's not just about doing those numbers it's about doing them fatigues and that's also the biggest thing with with the home training guys is you have to really build that fatigue resistance which has sort of been the basis of what we've been doing with me the last few months it's been very little actual Singapore gas efforts I'm sort of one one-off match type things it's been about doing the caves and doing the efforts at the end of the training sessions and it's the final part to that maybe something you're not going to struggle with as much as Jay but it's the you know you could put out seven and a half watts per kilogram but if you're starting to climb like in last wheel you know the splits have already happened and you know there's no amount of watts per kilogram is going to put you with the front of that bike race it's positioner yeah and that's something becoming more and more apparent because now the racing is so stressful everyone is so close together the the differences between the best guys and the worst guys is a lot smaller than it used to be um everyone's fighting for the for the same positions and now we have the the race rodeos with so much information from the directors anytime there's a small Cobble section or a small narrowing of the road or a roundabout everyone's directors on on the radio saying I need to be at the front here there's a dangerous roundabout and you've got 170 guys who are trying to be in the same place at the same time um so that's when it gets super hard so I think that's definitely became I think more of a thing the positioning and like I said with the fact that there is a list of difference between the best guys and the worst guys um that's certainly we looked uh to take those small ones we can so I also think yeah like I said that's why we're seeing more crashes and and more issues like that in the racing these days yeah because as you flag there's such a small gap between the best guys and the worst guys so I remember when I was kind of 2014

Why Everyone Does Six Watts Per Kilo

And 2050 and when I would have had an eye on or can I make a step up can I not six watts per kilo was super impressive somebody was doing six watts per kilo they were standing there when people were talking about them stepping up to the next level nearly everyone's doing six watts per kilo these days it's like how did that happen how did we get from here to there so fast I think a lot of that comes from much better Talent scouting so lots of World Tour teams have development teams now there's just a larger pool of riders to choose from and also I think with the nutrition the equipment everyone's doing the small things right now everyone's got the Euro stuff everyone's got the shifts everyone's following the right diet plans everyone's kind of doing a similar type thing you know so I think that's that's largely why the speeds are getting scarier and scarier this is what I wonder with all the aerial stuff it's like is the race is just so much safer if no one has the aerial stuff rather than everyone having the aerost off and it knocks 4K an hour off the average speeds yeah it's it's hard to know what's contributed mostly to the speed I think the error stuff the positioning definitely the ties is a big thing the way we train I think has a part to play probably not as big as people think and a big believer that the basis of you know becoming strong is just doing the basic stuff right there's lots of guys that have gone about doing Special intervals you know through this many minutes at this and do the lactate and blah blah blah I think you'll get 98 of the way there just doing the simple things so think it is lodging the equipment but yeah the bikes we have now particularly with your tires and aerodynamics and the clothing is a big one the helmets it all certainly adds up um but yeah as far as sort of numbers going comparing numbers is what we do now to sort of 10 20 years ago it's I come off the camp that you can't really compare the sport now to what it was you know you see guys on Twitter and things saying oh you know today or something did at this time so much faster than allowance or whatever but I think it's just it's apples and oranges I think these days yeah yeah it's totally different chatting to some of the the guys that I race on world tour at the moment the directors and stuff it seems like this ability to be robust is so so important now because you're saying like you can train uh 97 rather than trying to push to the last 100 well if the dude who's doing 100 of everything if he's missing two weeks every season because he's catching a chest infection he's missing another week because he's catching IT band issue that's putting them out of a week-long race that's actually much more important when you zoom out and look at the long-term data in terms of conditioning come you get to the start line is nearly as important it's going to get to the finish line yeah I think the big thing that most people underestimate with World Tour racing is just the sort of Relentless nature of it so it's pretty rare unless you're a you know a superstar in the sport to actually turn up the races 100 you know you're always in a situation where you've raised a week ago or you've had just a small illness or you've got different goals in the season so you're often turning up the races more often than not at sort of 80 or 90 but you still have a job to do um anyone can say you know when they're on the best AI I could have followed up that climber I could have done those numbers and it's like yeah about put half a season in the legs you know do a week-long stage race then have two days off then go to a one day race and and see how you go it's completely different so I think that's the biggest thing and that's probably been the biggest biggest island of this season is really just being consistently good rather than trying to intermittently perfect I think is the key particularly for someone in my role that's more of a domestic type guy the war is there a phrase that I had from my friends who was a director for a world tour team was there's a word that comes before a cycling that's professional yeah it's time and time again what I do it was cycle what you do is professional cycling that's tornado fatigued that's

How Racing Intensity Has Changed

Racing with antibiotics that's racing when you're injured that's like racing traveling that evening and racing again the next day it's ridiculous exactly yeah and I think that's the big thing but I there's definitely I think yeah certain things you learn with you know traveling in in different hotels and things that you can sort of mitigate a lot of those negative aspects of that part of it so definitely everyone's got their own things to do whether if they take their own food when they're traveling on you know planes and things or their own building or there's all that sort of stuff that definitely adds up but everyone's got their small things a small week of work that's to help them get through but you guys still have it easy I read uh Sean Kelly's itinerary from back in the day there we go he he likes Torah Flanders he got a Podium on the Sunday he flew out Sunday night started a tour of bass country on Monday one four of the six stages and the overall into a bus country which finished on the Saturday flew back Saturday night and one real Bay on the Sunday yeah yeah yeah that's crazy but yeah I think also sort of I think another part of it is just how hard the races are these days today's not the day we attack you know the the guys like that that was to go in the front and say hey this is how it's going to be today you know it's literally almost every man for himself every race was poor gas every race was hard and yeah everyone finishes completely spins so I think that obviously I wasn't around back then but I think the mentality of the racing and the style of racing has also changed a lot do you think there's you know you're a teammates I'm not sure if you're friends with today pogacho but do you think there's uh on us on the big Superstars like you know today well MVP Jonas should they be stepping up more as a role of patreon of the Peloton or is that just gone now yeah I think it's just gone to be honest it's because of the the sort of more commercial sort of direction that cycling is going now there's a lot more money involved it's much more of a job now everyone just you know need wants to get their job done sort of get paid and move on to the next one you know it's there's not many people that are doing it purely for the passion I think now um there's a different I mean of course every you know these guys would love the sport um and I think most you almost have to to be able to do it but I think the mentality again is different you know there's some some big money involved now there's some some big pressure everyone's got chance to see everyone's got the Boston answer too and everyone's just I think 100 focused on doing that job no matter what a guy like Taylor or what saves everyone answers to their director in the direct program but this is probably what's contributing like this is just me speculating from conversations I've had on the podcast this is probably what's contributing to the very dangerous nature of the bunch at the moment like I'm sharing with Daryl MP a couple of months ago and we were talking about that crash in Flanders where the kid from Laurel caught his wheel in the grass and took out half the bunch um he said he's talking to neopros he's seen them doing some dumb [ __ ] and he's like tap them on the hip in a non-confrontational aggressive way like just later on the race you go hey like that thing you've done earlier on like it went okay but that could have went bad and if it went bad you were gonna hurt a lot of people and he said he was just you know just saying it to be friendly as someone who's wore the yellow Jersey who's respected in the Peloton just to be a little bit friendly and to watch out for the kid and he said he's just the answer he gets every time is [ __ ] off yeah yeah I think I think musician needs to step up there and do some sort of red card system because I'm sure in previous years in tour of land as someone's moved up on that that bit of Cobble or that that footpath you know every year you know yeah how many years and nothing's happened you know it's but now something bad happens they fail and now we have to act on it but they need to actually have something the same with Sprint you

Punishing Conduct, Not Consequences

Know if your Pakistan and you know you're not going to get anywhere you may give someone an elbows unless you have a chance of winning okay to make it relegated but you weren't going on anyway I thought and this yeah I'm done you know you yeah if it's all good well I'll go to the back of the bunch of the same thing but I think he needs to be a system with you so I can say that was dangerous you've got you know one yellow card or whatever and you get two or three of those in a certain period and you have to sit out two months racing or something yeah it's it's like the the idea of coming back on with like if you're dropped and coming back on on the bumper of a team car it's like if if you get back on you're in the race and you get to contest to finish if you get caught you're thrown out with a race with true who cares because if you didn't get back on you were not packing the race anyway it's such a bizarre penalty exactly so it just it just makes no sense uh sort of how they do it and like we were saying earlier with the speeds these days and and all the gear we've got it's the equipment it's if you do crash down the Sprint often you're doing 70ks an hour you know and it's quite different doing that sort of speed you look at you know what happened with Fabian Jacobson and tour of Poland you know um but the thing with that is like you need to punish the consequences like you're saying you need to punish when Sargon leans into somebody for you know their Sprinter for seventh and he leans into somebody he needs to get that red card and that fan system you can't just punish the consequences just because that went bad bad that day for a variety of reasons downhill Sprints poor barriers but it's the conduct that needs to be punished exactly otherwise it's sort of yeah like you say sort of punishing the action not the consequence so we don't want things to go bad before change is made you know so what the answer to that is I think is yeah something we need to work out I think it's something that the rise Union is going to have to sort of focus on over the next few years but I think yeah something giving has to change because the rate of crashes now I mean I think there was one point in the season that we have I think seven guys out with crashes and injuries and and illness and whatnot so there's just far too many guys that are that are going down and they're out for a long time now as well like when you're that lean and that foot you you can hurt yourself really easily and you don't have that same recovery but it's also like I I think it's such a traditional Sport and they're fighting in ways to hold on to this tradition like we could definitely use big data and analyze the last 10 years of every race and see which races are the most dangerous and then put it back to the organisms and say hey like you're 50 there's 50 you're 50 more likely to have a bad accident in your race than the the standard race we need to address this or you don't get the race next year the the problem with that is that if we did that we'd never have another race in Belgium again because that's that's just a part of the way it is you know and there's got to be a fine line because you can't make it so difficult for organizers that we can't have races because then everyone loses so it's a case to find that happy medium where the right measures are taken that are sort of reasonable but they're actually achievable by the organizers while also understanding that we're never ever going to have 100 safe Sport and there's always unfortunately going to be crashes and things but it's a case of sort of picking those that's looking fruit and saying okay this is this is ridiculous we have to stand up and do something about this how was the the mood in the bunch post uh the tragic death of Gino because that's the first one I can remember since probably Welter whale and some I'm sure there was some at lower levels but at the top level of the sport yeah I mean I think well Walter was the last one I think died of a crash I know the the young kids in the water and I can't remember his name there um Bjork Lambert I think

Accepting the Risks of Pro Cycling

His name was yes I remember that so yeah he was the other one but yeah World War one was probably the last one I think in the Giro um like that but um I actually haven't raced since then I was actually racing with him and uh giving him the the tattoo which was the one day race before Swiss that was sort of the lead-up for tourist was and just sort of be racing with a guy one day to then a week later sort of hearing that news it's it's pretty tragic and I think also the hardest thing for us Riders is I think deep down everyone knows that there is no solution to that it's just one of those things that if you you can't yeah it's just the way this morning everyone when we we clipping every day we have those risks you know if you're going downhills you know even 78 cars now on a road bike here in front with a blowout around the corner you're always going to be in trouble and it just takes sort of the wrong Landing or the wrong direction that you fall for something like that to happen so I think that's definitely a bit of an argument of a wake up for everyone but you know we are vulnerable and even if the road seems safe more the sports seems safe we're always taking the risks and it's just about being sensible and mitigating those risks but also on saying that I don't know the specific details around the crash and what happened but from what I know the road wasn't particularly dangerous yeah I think that was a like a stark eye-opener for not just Pro cyclists for a cyclists of any level because like you're saying we've all been out like observed this morning rail in the sense on the way down like just listen to music kind of lose with myself 70 80k an error on the sense and yeah we can normalize what's a very very dangerous activity and it's just when you chat to someone who's not in our bubble occasionally and they're like you do what speed exactly tires on those roads it's like it just needs something small you know equipment failure of any kind something on you know unforeseen on the road and it can go bad bad very fast so we actually had another girl only a week before that who was a prominent Irish racing cyclist she was hit with a car out trying and then killed as well so I was like that double header it's really left me kind of questioning the risk to reward ratio of riding on the roads because you know I love riding on the roads and cycling you know it's my full-time job now talking about this and it's given me so much I've met amazing friends travel the world have the podcast amazing experiences but have a young nephew now and he's only six months old and I'm just like what I recommend the sport to him it's just I don't know like maybe it's just a the proximity to those two tragedies that clouded my judgment on it now and in six years time when he's of age I'll be you know getting them a little miniature Factor carbon bikes but I don't know yeah yeah yeah I'm sort of the same because sort of in recent years my um a couple of my sisters and my sisters and my my dad have recently sort of started sort of riding pretty seriously now back home and every time you're out and you know they're out as well and you hear a siren or something you sort of get that sinking feeling um because particularly as a professional you know you feel like you should be the person that knows better or the person was that that voice the reason you know um but yeah yeah that's that's one of those things you know life anything you do in life can be dangerous um but that's again the case of mitigating those risks are not doing anything that's unnecessarily dangerous we're kind of rolling into the second half of the season now uh do you have I'm assuming you signed a one-year deal with UAE is there performance metrics that have been discussed that will get you an extension to that contract or where are you sitting at the moment with that um that's a good question so um now is sort of the time that we discuss those things um I haven't signed anything yet but the reports seem to be positive so fingers crossed that I can continue on um ideally I'd want to stay with this team you know this this team your Emirates has given them an opportunity and I think the the role I have here is

Settling Into the Domestique Role

Perfect you know with the the big leaders I mean guys like me to help I think that's my natural sort of role as a domestic type guy and to be with this team with always having someone that can win the race always having the leader of a big star it's really nice for me knowing I can do my job for someone that actually can win the race you know there's nothing worse than trying to help someone that's you know you know sort of in the back of your mind that's going to struggle with it to finish it off you know but then here I just have full confidence in the leaders and I think I've sort of slotted into my role really well I think the team's seen that as well um so hopefully sort of did something sorted in the next few weeks um but yeah there's also been I think a bit of a learning curve from the team side as well it's the first time I've sort of signed a guy purely will not purely but largely from a home trainer so I'm trying to sort of sort of background so I think near interested as much as anyone just to see sort of what I can do how if it goes through the season you know particularly later half of the season the sort of resilience in the legs and um and how that'll work so yeah so it looks good it is it it is quite a unique way to come in as a domestic because you've come in like solely as a domestic or if like I shout out to Michael Barry a couple of weeks ago who you know HTC Colombia T-Mobile and then sky but if you trace Michael back pre-World or pre-us Postal days he's winning big big races and this the people we see as domestics you know you've seen Mitch Docker from your part of the world certainly is domestic some purely settling and as a domestic I pollen some knowledge from your part of the world at the moment I don't know where this is coming from but like bills was an animal on the track Like These are superstars in their own right who then go to the world tour and you know settle into Life as a domestic they had aspirations to be team leaders and win Tour de Francis and then those aspirations were sort of dulled down you've come into it really without any of those aspirations to win Tour of France I'm short of the Bucky or mornings are still thinking it might be nice but in reality you're there solely as a domestic yeah I don't know if it's because I've sort of been around the sport for quite a while and I'm I'm sort of in touch with reality um I'd rather be a guy that's a good dummy stick than an average leader you know like whatever I do I want to do my job well and have the respect of everyone on the bunch and I think domestics do get that um oftentimes as long as deep you're doing stuff but it's not seen on TV it's the small things that you know you're doing halfway through the punch you know there's a bit of crosswind just sort of sitting out of the gutter a bit to protect your leader or always asking the guys in the bottles or advice or anything it's all those small things that you do that really makes a I think a really good a good domestic which I think is becoming a bit of a lost art form with this sort of new push teams wanting younger Riders but I think now particularly with guys that want World Tour contracts that I always talk to them and I say that if you want to get to the World Tour you really need to be able to win or you need to be able to help someone win uh Michael it's been a blast best look for the rest season and stay in touch great thank you very much thanks for your time

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How did Michael Vink become a professional cyclist at 30?+

Michael Vink signed a UAE Team Emirates WorldTour contract at age 30 after years of amateur and semi-professional racing across Europe and the UAE. He attributes the breakthrough to shifting his focus away from obsessive goal-chasing and instead embracing the broader lifestyle of racing abroad, experiencing foreign cultures, and competing for its own sake.

What separates amateur cyclists from WorldTour professionals?+

According to Michael Vink, the gap is rarely about watts per kilogram. The final five to ten percent comes down to off-bike infrastructure, specifically sleep quality, nutrition, and the mental resilience built through years of racing in difficult conditions. Riders who master those fundamentals consistently outperform those who focus solely on training load.

Is it possible to turn pro in cycling after age 25?+

Michael Vink is a clear example that it is. He secured a WorldTour contract a full decade older than two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar. Late breakthroughs are more common among riders who accumulate years of European racing experience and build robust off-bike habits rather than burning out chasing early contracts.

How does MyWhoosh compare to other indoor cycling platforms?+

MyWhoosh is a free-to-use indoor cycling platform that hosts structured races, including a popular Sunday race series. It is discussed in this episode of the Roadman Podcast in the context of Michael Vink's training and competitive preparation, and is positioned as a credible alternative to paid platforms for riders wanting regular competitive events.

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Key Takeaways

Stopping the relentless obsession with going pro and instead enjoying the lifestyle and racing itself paradoxically led to the breakthrough contract offer

Modern WorldTour racing demands fatigue resistance and positioning ability, not just peak power numbers—doing 6 watts/kg fresh means nothing if you're dropped on the climb after 4 hours of racing

Consistency and durability trump intermittent perfection; most pros race at 80-90% fitness due to previous races, illness, or travel, so staying healthy and avoiding crashes matters more than chasing peak form

The sport has become dramatically safer and more accessible for international riders due to better team development systems, technology, and global connectivity—but crashes are now more dangerous due to higher speeds and aerodynamic equipment

Good domestiques are becoming a lost art; the unglamorous work of protecting your leader, reading the race, and doing small unseen things separates excellent support riders from average ones

Expert Quotes

"I'd rather be a guy that's a good domestique than an average leader. Whatever I do I want to do my job well and have the respect of everyone in the bunch."

"It's the sort of all-encompassing lifestyle where it's about the travelling, it's about people, it's about different cultures, it's about performing in foreign environments—that's what carried me so long in my career."

"There's a word that comes before cycling that's professional. It's racing with antibiotics, racing when you're injured, racing traveling that evening and racing again the next day."

KEY QUOTES

“I think you'll get 98 of the way there just doing the simple things so think it is lodging the equipment but yeah the bikes we have now particularly with your tires and aerodynamics and the clothing is a big one the helmets it all certainly adds up”
Anthony Walsh — Professional cyclist, UAE World Tour contract

“the biggest island of this season is really just being consistently good rather than trying to intermittently perfect I think is the key particularly for someone in my role that's more of a domestic type guy”
Anthony Walsh — Professional cyclist, UAE World Tour contract

“you've got 170 guys who are trying to be in the same place at the same time um so that's when it gets super hard so I think that's definitely became I think more of a thing the positioning and like I said with the fact that there is a list of difference between the best guys and the worst guys”
Anthony Walsh — Professional cyclist, UAE World Tour contract

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How did Michael Vink become a professional cyclist at 30?+

What separates amateur cyclists from WorldTour professionals?+

Is it possible to turn pro in cycling after age 25?+

How does MyWhoosh compare to other indoor cycling platforms?+

HOW I BECAME A PRO CYCLIST IN ONE YEAR | ROADMAN PODCAST

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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