If there was one rider whose achievements were overlooked last season, it was Visma-Lease a Bike’s teenager Imogen Wolff.
The Yorkshirewoman began her debut year in the WorldTour as a fresh-faced 18-year-old, and won a stage of the Vuelta a Extremadura Femenina in just her third day of racing.
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“One of the biggest things from last year was that my role has definitely changed,” Wolff told Cycling Weekly on the eve of her first race of the season, the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana.
“Being at this level really highlights your strengths and your weaknesses, and I realised that the slightly harder terrain that I thought suited me doesn’t, and I found that the Classics and punchy style of racing is what I really enjoy.
“It would have been nice to get another win at some point in the year, but I got to ride races that weren’t even mentioned when we discussed the original season plan. I did races I always dreamed of doing and I learned so much thanks to so many opportunities.”
Wolff (second from right) with her Visma-Lease a Bike team-mates at the Vuelta Femenina.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Wolff, who turns 20 on Thursday, was thrown in the deep end of elite-level racing from the get-go, riding Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in a packed spring of the biggest races.
“I started the season with no idea of how I’d slot into the elites as I’d only done junior races before, but I found my feet quicker than I and the team were anticipating,” she explained.
“I figured out early on that helping with leadouts, like I also did in the Tour, was a role that I can be really good in. Fighting for position and dealing with the hecticness and chaos is one of my strengths, and I was lucky that the team saw a gap that needed filling and I could fill it for them.”
Wolff will have an almost identical race schedule in the first-half of this season, working mostly in support of Ferrand-Prévot and Marianne Vos, while also being offered the occasional opportunity of her own.
“I’m really happy that my calendar is similar to last year and I really want to be good at the Classics,” she said.
“In races like Omloop [Het Nieuwsblad] and Gent-Wevelgem I won’t be an outright leader but I’ll have more of a free role. It’s great to have that mix of my own opportunities and contributing to the team as a good support rider.”
Three of Visma’s seven places for the summer’s Tour de France have already been designated, meaning that Wolff is one of 12 riders on the team fighting for the four remaining slots.
She’s confident that she can prove herself worthy of selection once again. “It feels crazy to say but I do feel like I belong at this level,” she said.
“I’ve not kept quiet about wanting to go to the Tour again, as the amount of learning in nine days was insane. I still pinch myself when I look back on that week.
“Physically it brought me on loads as everyone brings their A game and is 20% better, faster and stronger.
“In the first half of this season it’s going to be in the back of my head that I want to prove I’m strong enough to go and contribute to something cool again, to be part of the best and strongest team at the Tour.
“It sometimes feels like I’m on a bit of a girls’ trip because the vibes are so good and I’m with such a cool bunch of people. That makes a huge difference to how we race.”
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