Laurens ten Dam spent 16 years in the World Tour, finished 9th at the Tour de France in 2014, and then nearly quit cycling entirely. A 50-mile gravel race in Santa Rosa, California with a cooler of beer at the finish line saved his career and bought him three more years as a professional.
Key Takeaways
After his 2014 Tour de France result, ten Dam went all-in trying to improve for 2015. More training, less food, stricter everything. He emptied himself completely and had a season he describes as a hell of a year. He broke his back the week after the Tour, counted 100 days away from home that season with only 10 days back, five of those grumpy and exhausted. The overtraining cost him more than a bad season — it nearly cost him the sport.
What brought him back was a grasshopper adventure race in Santa Rosa where nobody told him what the rules were, Levi Leipheimer and Jeff Kabush were on the start line, and there were coolers of beer and bags of chips waiting at the top of the final climb. He finished 4th. He also says he did maybe two real interval sessions per year during his entire World Tour career. The rest was what he calls soul rides. He still finished 9th at the Tour de France. If you're hammering every session and wondering why you're going backwards, that's the number worth sitting with.
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If the Tour de France side of ten Dam's story interests you, the Pogacar episode goes deep into what it actually takes to win the thing. And if you want more on the gravel scene he helped build in Europe, the European Gravel Championship episode covers how fast that world has moved.