Interview Kristen Faulkner: "I had a dream that was more important than money"

TOUR: Kristen, you set off for the Olympic Games in Paris with ambitious goals. You then won gold twice - in the road race and in the team pursuit on the track. What does this success mean to you?

Kristen Faulkner: You feel so much pressure before the Olympic Games. It was then a feeling of huge relief that the years of hard work had paid off. People don't see that - they just see the glory and hear the success story. The ten-year-old version of me had this big dream of going to the Olympics. And I made ten-year-old Kristen proud - that's the biggest thing I've been able to achieve in my life and has given me special joy. And the other thing that was really exciting was that my victory has given women's cycling more prestige in the USA. I'm excited to see if we can continue to capitalise on that.

>> How the women's Olympic road race went

TOUR: In the meantime, the story has made the rounds that a few years ago you weren't even involved in cycling and didn't even know how to ride a bike with clipless pedals. Is the story true?

Kristen Faulkner: Seven years ago, when I was living in New York City and working in the financial sector, I went to a beginners' course for cyclists in Central Park. At the time, I didn't have the goal of competing. I just wanted to go to Central Park, learn a new hobby and have some fun. There they taught us how to click into the pedals, how to turn round cones and how to ride in the slipstream. The path from beginner to pro was short ... I then took part in a beginner's race in Central Park over about 40 kilometres and came third or fourth. After that I raced more, got a coach and got stronger and stronger because I really loved it. Eventually I turned pro with the local Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank team. I also got older and said to myself: if I still want to make it to the Olympic Games, it's now or never.

" In Alaska, I learned to love being outside and being tough on myself. " - Kristen Faulkner

TOUR: You come from the small town of Homer in Alaska, the northernmost and coldest state in the USA.

Kristen Faulkner: Alaska is not a particularly good place for cycling because it is winter for so many months of the year and there are not many cycle paths. But Alaska has taught me to love nature. I learnt resilience and hard work there. Also, I'm one of five kids, I have three older brothers and sisters - so I've always had to try to keep up with them. Overall, I learnt a lot of skills in Alaska that helped me when I started cycling.

TOUR: Like you, your parents were graduates of the elite Harvard University and rowers on the university team. To what extent did your parents influence you?

Kristen Faulkner: When my parents graduated from university, they had much better paying jobs on the east coast of the USA. But they decided to go to Alaska when they were 22 and made a life for themselves there. They are entrepreneurs and loved Alaska. What I learnt from them was to do what you love and take risks. They worked really hard when I was a kid. That shaped me.

TOUR: Your parents opened a hotel in Alaska. Were you involved in the business as a child?

Kristen Faulkner: Yes, I worked in housekeeping, in the restaurant, in accounting, at reception and in the garden. I helped my parents every summer in many different jobs in their business.

TOUR: You can find videos on the internet in which you say that your past in the financial sector has influenced you as a cyclist. You'll have to explain that ...

Kristen Faulkner: Working with venture capital has taught me to take calculated risks, i.e. to judge whether it is worth taking a risk or not. Venture capital means investing in start-ups. That is risky. But if you're successful, you're incredibly successful - just think of Facebook, Dropbox or Airbnb when they were still small!

My victory has raised the prestige of women's cycling in the USA. -Kristen Faulkner

TOUR: And how does that affect you as a professional cyclist?

Kristen Faulkner: When I'm racing, I like to attack - and that's a very risky thing to do! Most people are afraid to attack in races because they think there's a greater chance of being caught. But I think it's worth taking these risks because you can win in the end. And I also particularly enjoy winning solo.

TOUR: But it can also go wrong, the decision can turn out to be wrong ...

Kristen Faulkner: That's the second thing I've learnt when dealing with venture capital: You have to show resilience. If you fail, you have to try again. If you then succeed, you learn that you don't have to let failure stress you out. In short, it's okay if something doesn't work - as long as you try again.

TOUR: You cooperated with top favourite Lotte Kopecky during the race in Paris and pulled her to the front. How high did you estimate the risk of losing to the Belgian world champion in the end?

Kristen Faulkner: She was really tired, I could see that in her face. She was breathing heavily and her shoulders were cramped. Her pedalling was different than usual. She looked round. She just didn't seem as strong and was riding much more cautiously than usual. And I knew that she had already invested a lot in catching up with us at the start of the race.

TOUR: When you and Kopecky reached the two front runners Marianne Vos and Blanka Vas in the final kilometres, you attacked immediately. Was that planned?

Kristen Faulkner: My plan before the start was to attack out of a small group on the last long straight. But I ultimately made the decision spontaneously during the race. I knew that I had to attack. Because we were four riders, there were three medals - and I was the slowest sprinter. So I knew that I wouldn't get a medal if we finished together.

As a good racing driver, you have to be prepared to accept unexpected situations and work with them without being stressed. - Kristen Faulkner

TOUR: How do you generally approach bike races - with a plan or more intuitively?

Kristen Faulkner: You have to prepare, find out how you can win. I enjoy the analytical preparation that goes into cycling. But you also have to learn to keep calm under pressure and in changing circumstances. Because so many things can happen in a race that you don't plan for: Crashes, wind, attacks you weren't expecting. As a good racing driver, you have to be prepared to adapt again and again, to be ready at all times to accept unexpected situations and simply work with them without being stressed.

TOUR: You say you always calculate the risks. You gave up a well-paid job in the financial sector and started relatively late as a professional in women's cycling, where salaries are comparatively low for most female athletes. How does that fit together?

Kristen Faulkner: I had a dream that was more important than money. But it's true, I would have earned a lot more money in the financial sector.

TOUR: When you decided in favour of cycling, was it primarily about the dream of the Olympics, of a medal?

Kristen Faulkner: It was about two things: I love cycling very much. It makes me happy. Cycling has made me happier than venture capital. What is more important in life than doing what you find truly fulfilling? I was well paid for my work with venture capital. But my true passion was cycling. And that's the reason why I became a professional cyclist. I would have become a professional cyclist even if I hadn't had the chance to qualify for the Olympic Games. But in the end it was a combination: doing what I love on the one hand, and fulfilling my childhood dream of competing in the Olympics on the other.

I think it's great that cycling has both a physical and a tactical, strategic component. - Kristen Faulkner

TOUR: What fascinates you about cycling?

Kristen Faulkner: From the very first day, I loved the fact that you can get out of the city, explore new places, be in nature, feel the wind and the sun on your face. And I think it's great that cycling has both a physical and a tactical, strategic component. You have to be both smart and extremely fit. I liked that because on the one hand I'm a very analytical and strategic person and on the other hand I've always done endurance sports - swimming as a child and rowing at university. I also really liked the fact that you can do cycling at an advanced age: You can be a professional cyclist until your late 30s. And I really like the fact that there is both a team and an individual element to cycling.

TOUR: You had to move to Europe to enter professional cycling at the highest level. Your compatriot Ruth Edwards, née Winder, temporarily ended her career because she was too homesick in Europe. Do you recognise this feeling?

Kristen Faulkner: I was definitely homesick. I missed Alaska - the summer there, the nature with hiking, fishing, kayaking. I missed a lot of things when I moved to Europe. I miss my family. I missed birthdays and the weddings of my best friends. The question is whether it's worth it. Even though it was hard, it was worth it for me.

TOUR: You rode your first race in Europe in 2020 at the Tour de l'Ardeche. On your fourth day of racing overseas, you won a stage there - ahead of Anna Kiesenhofer, who became Olympic road race champion in Tokyo the following summer. Was Kiesenhofer a role model with her very planned approach to the Olympic race?

Kristen Faulkner: I wasn't thinking about Anna's race in Paris, I was thinking about my race. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I could win. Anna and I are also very different types of riders. She is more of a climber. I'm an explosive classics rider and time trial specialist.

TOUR: What did you do in detail to win the Olympics?

Kristen Faulkner: I did an altitude training camp and worked a lot on my explosiveness on the track. I paid attention to a healthy diet. A large part of my preparation also centred on how I can deal well with the pressure, the many influences and emotions at the Olympic Games.

TOUR: That sounds like you're a bit of a control freak?

Kristen Faulkner: I think I concentrate on controlling what I can control and not worrying about the things I can't control - for example the weather, crashes that happen in front of me in the race or illness. I just need to make sure that I don't leave anything to chance in my preparation.

TOUR: Speaking of control. You didn't originally qualify for the road race in Paris. It was all about 15 May - the day of the US individual time trial championships, where the only free spot for the road events was awarded. In the end, you missed out on the US title and qualification by eleven seconds to triathlete Taylor Knibb. How did you experience that moment?

Kristen Faulkner: It was one of the saddest days of my life. I had been working on this dream for years - since I was a child. I thought it was all over. I was particularly disappointed because I had suffered a concussion a month earlier and therefore couldn't train on the bike - in a really crucial preparation phase of all things. I had the feeling that I could have won the race if I had been healthy.

TOUR: You were allowed to start in the road race in Paris after all, because Knibb decided not to start and concentrated on the triathlon competitions ...

Kristen Faulkner: I knew that it was very likely that she would not take part because she had never taken part in a road race in her life. And I knew that the triathlon federation was pressurising her not to take part in the road race because the risk of falling was high.

TOUR: But you were only in Paris as a substitute rider because you had qualified via the team pursuit.

Kristen Faulkner: Yes, if I hadn't competed in the team pursuit, I wouldn't have been able to ride the road race.

TOUR: As a newcomer to track cycling with a fixed hub, weren't you afraid to ride in a formation at 60 km/h with centimetres between you?

Kristen Faulkner: It was scary the first time. But you soon get used to it.

TOUR: Did you only compete in the team pursuit to get a starting place for the road race?

Kristen Faulkner: No. I really enjoyed the team pursuit. But when I came to the national team's first training camp in 2022, the coach said that he had seen me make the worst start of his 30 years in the sport. So it wasn't that I didn't want to take part in the team pursuit beforehand. I just wasn't good enough at first.

TOUR: What is the fascination of the track foursome?

Kristen Faulkner: It's fun - it's fast and furious, technical and hard. And this kind of four-minute power suits me. Team pursuit reminds me a bit of rowing - everyone has to work well together as a team in a row.

TOUR: In the live broadcast of the road race, viewers saw you crossing the finish line, not cheering and riding on in disbelief, conducting the first interviews rather absent-mindedly.

Kristen Faulkner: Yes, that was funny. The reason was that I had promised my coach that the moment I crossed the finish line, I would concentrate on my next race. Two days later, the team pursuit race was on the programme, so I really wanted to keep moving my legs.

TOUR: You saw the finish of the Olympic victory as part of the cool-down and were already thinking about the team pursuit at that moment - seriously?

Kristen Faulkner: Yes, I only had the next race on my mind. I wasn't thinking about the fans, the media. It was only when the camera crews came to me that I thought to myself: Oh, I can actually celebrate. I can take a minute and enjoy the moment.

TOUR: The Olympic victory was a historic moment in cycling - especially in your home country: You are the second Olympic road race winner from the USA - 40 years after your compatriot Connie Carpenter-Phinney, who won the first ever women's Olympic road race in Los Angeles in 1984. Do you know your predecessor?

Kristen Faulkner: She is an icon. It's an honour for me and really exciting that I'm following in her footsteps at the Olympics. I hope that, like her, I can have a big impact on women's cycling in America.

TOUR: Your sporting director Carmen Small told TOUR that in the USA, Olympic gold is worth more than winning the Tour de France. You won gold twice in Paris. What goals do you still see in cycling?

Kristen Faulkner: I would like to win a world championship title - either in the time trial or the road race. And I would like to go to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles and compete in the individual time trial there, at the Games in my home country. And I would also like to win some of the big races in Europe: Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Strade Bianche or one of the grand tours. So I still have a lot of goals in cycling.

TOUR: You still have a contract with EF-Oatly-Cannondale up to and including 2026. In hindsight, was that the right choice - the team doesn't have a World Tour licence, but is officially considered second-class ...

Kristen Faulkner: I had a lot of offers from World Tour teams before this season (2024). But I decided in favour of EF-Oatly-Cannondale. And for me, it's not important whether it's a World Tour team. It's more important that it's a racing team that cares about equal rights for women. It's a team that cares about us as people, not just us as racers. I don't think I would have won the gold medals if I had been on a different team.

TOUR: Women's cycling has developed very strongly in recent years. Your word as an Olympic champion now carries particular weight: what improvements would you like to see in the coming years?

Kristen Faulkner: Firstly, we need higher salaries. The top women earn less than ten per cent of what the top men earn. It's really sad that the organisations and teams agree with the gender gap. The same goes for the prize money. And the media organisations also need to promote women's cycling more. If you go to a streaming website, I always find clips and photos of the men on the front page. There's nothing for people to click on to get to the women's races.

About the person: Kristen Faulkner

• Nationality: USA
• Date of birth: 18 December 1992 in Homer/Alaska (USA)
• Place of residence: Girona (Spain)
• Size: 1.68 metres
• Weight: 62 kilogrammes
• Professional since: 2020

Teams

• Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank (2020-2021)
• BikeExchange-Jayco / Jayco-AIUla (2022-2023)
• EF-Education-Oatley-Cannondale (since 2024)

Important successes

• Tour de l'Ardèche stage win (2020)
• Stage win and third overall Tour of Norway (2021)
• 2 Giro d'Italia stage wins
• Stage win and second overall in the Tour de Suisse (2022)
• Pan American individual time trial champion (2023)
• Olympic victory in the road race and team pursuit
• Vuelta a Espana stage win
• US Road Champion (2024)