About Elena Roch
Elena Roch was born in Hollabrunn in Lower Austria in 1993. She became famous after she won the 2024 Race Across Austria ahead of the fastest man. It took her four days and two hours to cover the 2,200 kilometres and 30,000 metres in altitude. The amateur cyclist won the Race Around Lower Austria in 2020, 2021 and 2022. At the World Time Trial Championships in Borrego Springs (USA) in 2024, she set a new women's course record in the 24-hour individual time trial category. Her average speed was around 35 km/h. In 2024, she also won the premiere of the unsupported Race Across Austria. She lives with her boyfriend near Innsbruck and works in marketing and project management. She also offers road bike camps for women.
TOUR: 2,200 kilometres and 30,000 metres of altitude with around three hours of sleep - why would you do that?
Elena Roch: It's that adrenaline: not knowing whether it's even possible. And then seeing for yourself: how far can I go, what can I achieve? This thirst for adventure: is it even possible? People often want to impose their own limits on me and say it's not possible. I'm also defiant - I think that comes from the past. I didn't have the athletic background and didn't have a perfect sports figure. Especially the sports teachers at school - I often had to take a lot of punishment because they didn't trust me. It's partly because I want to prove to myself that I'm capable of more.
TOUR: Parents usually bring their children to sport - do you do the same?
Elena Roch: No, not at all - I come from a family of winegrowers. My dad has nothing to do with sport and neither does my mum. But we used to go skiing in winter and hiking in summer. That's where my desire for mountains and being outdoors was born. For me, sport was always about clearing my head, being creative and feeling free. Cycling even more so than running, because you can discover so much.
TOUR: You only started cycling ten years ago - were you in any sports clubs before that?
Elena och: No, I took part in fun runs and cross-country series in winter when I was at school. My motivation at the age of 15 or 16 was traditionally to lose weight.
TOUR: In 2017 you cycled around 1,000 kilometres and in 2018 you rode the Ötztaler - how does that work?
Elena Roch: I moved to Tyrol with my boyfriend and the racing bike community is all about the Ötztaler. I was told you'd never manage it, you'd hardly ridden it. I was really stubborn and told my boyfriend that we would do it now. And then I prepared myself in a very structured way for seven months. But we didn't do a performance test or have any idea about catering.
TOUR: You rode in 9:42 hours in your second year, which is really good ...
Elena Roch: The first year the weather was bad and I rode the descents very slowly - so I wanted to try again and finish faster.
Elena Roch: from Ötztal to ultra cycling
TOUR: And how do you get from the Ötztaler Cycle Marathon to ultracycling?
Elena Roch: I really like it when others say it's impossible, proving something to myself, pushing boundaries, setting goals and taking on challenges. The other thing is that I've always found that fascinating. I've always followed Christoph Strasser (editor's note: six-time winner of the Race Across America, two-time winner of the Transcontinental Race), for example, and I've always followed Xandi Meixner (editor's note: the first Austrian woman to win the Race Across America). And the third point is that I stood at the side of the road at the Race Around Austria. There's a cyclist coming along and a car behind him. I had a tingling sensation and thought to myself: I want to do that too.
TOUR: Do you have to be a bit crazy to do such extreme things?
Elena Roch: I always say: everyone has their own bird. If you don't have this passion, it's difficult to understand - especially to endure the pain. This passion is so great and this curiosity and desire to experience it that you realise that it is sometimes unpleasant. I can only summarise it like this: these are great emotions.
Four days of liquid food
TOUR: You take a very planned approach: at the RAA you only ate liquid food for four days...
Elena Roch: During the first Race Around Lower Austria, I ate milk rolls and potatoes. After that I realised that liquid is simply better. I tried different things and realised what was good for me. I realised I couldn't get the bars down and only rode with gels and iso. I tolerated that really well and that's how I kept it with the RAA.
TOUR: Don't you ever wish you had something to bite on after three days on the bike?
Elena Roch: Not at all, but the feeling of hunger is brutal because you simply have zero volume in your stomach. I struggled with that a bit. You know in your head that you're well fed, but you just feel it in your stomach.
TOUR: You need a team of supervisors around the clock for the RAA - that sounds expensive!
Roch: There were a lot of hurdles in the run-up to the organisation: Conflicts in the team of supervisors, illnesses - I wasn't sure two days beforehand whether we would get enough supervisors together. I had seven people in two cars so that the carers could take turns.
TOUR: That also increases the pressure, because you know what these people do for you?
Elena Roch: Yes, it's exactly as you say. That's why I was so upset about this conflict beforehand. I want people to have a cool time, not for the atmosphere in the car to be miserable. People take time off work, go without sleep, sit in the car for days on end in a confined space. The pressure is very different to just doing an unsupported race.
TOUR: You only slept just over three hours in four days. Did you have any sensory disturbances?
Elena Roch: Very minimal - that's where I have the most respect. You hear some really bad things, even from Racer Around Austria, where people were going round in circles and no longer knew what they were doing. I was a bit scared then. I once saw pumpkins as people in the middle of nowhere at night. I thought, what are they doing there? And at the RAA, on the descent from the Glockner, I once saw the central reservation moving. We then stopped for a moment.
Overcoming low points
TOUR: Did you have any lows on the 2,200 kilometres of the RAA?
Roch: Yes, definitely. The first one came early on because it was so hot. I have more problems with heat than cold. It was 40 degrees and the salt crystals gave me bad sitting problems. It was extremely painful and so early on. I was wondering whether I could cope with it for another three days. We had to take a lot of breaks because of the wound care. It was a struggle right to the end.
TOUR: How do you deal with it when you're feeling bad?
Elena Roch: There were different phases at the RAA. I was doing really well up the Glockner and the team really pushed me. And then it got really bad. It was really bad up the Gerlos Pass and I felt so sorry for myself. But my team tried so hard to get some ointments and even sacrificed their break. That's when it really got to me. I got really angry about my seating problems and thought to myself: I'm definitely not going to let this shit stop me! This anger really got me going.
TOUR: Do you become exhausting for your team when you're not feeling well?
Elena Roch: I think there are even more complicated people. I really enjoy entertaining myself. But when I realise it's getting really exhausting, I'm in a bad mood, then I just like to put on music and can't stand it when people tell me a lot. Then I say: please, stop talking. Maybe that's not so nice at the time. But you mustn't forget, even if you're in an exceptional situation, that people give up their holiday, give up sleep and give it their all. It's just a stupid dream, it's just a hobby. Nobody really cares whether you finish or not.
TOUR: Days of pain, a sore bum - that sounds as if you say at the finish line: great that I made it, but never again. Why do you keep going?
Elena Roch: You can't even describe it because there are so many emotions at the finish line. And the days afterwards too. It's so emotional and so beautiful and you want to experience that again.
TOUR: In the media, you were the woman who rode away from the men. What did that mean to you?
Elena Roch: It was hardly an issue at the podium ceremony. Someone told me about it during the race, but it wasn't that big a deal for me. But then it came up on ZIB (editor's note: Austrian TV news programme Zeit im Bild on ORF) and then it exploded. Then the media called one after the other and I couldn't really process it.
Elena Roch as a permanent guest on television
TOUR: You were on several TV talk shows, in the newspaper, in podcasts - wasn't that too much at some point?
Elena Roch: It was exhausting in terms of time, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I was on ORF, on ServusTV in Hangar-7 and on Sky. You have to remember that it's only for a few weeks and then it will never happen again anyway. I'm not someone who likes to be the centre of attention, but to be able to sit in Hangar-7, to talk to the Olympic champions backstage, to talk to the sports presenter I grew up with in the ORF studio - that was a super cool experience.
TOUR: The theme was always the strong woman...
Elena Roch: I thought it was great that it left the bubble. In ultra sports, men are more confident and women question a lot. That's why I thought it was cool that many women said: mega, that you've made it. I had Xandi Meixner as a role model and I knew that she had done the Race Around Austria - it makes a difference when you have role models.
TOUR: Why do so few women ride ultra-distances?
Elena Roch: Cycling is a male-dominated sport. But a lot has happened in recent years. I believe that the hurdle for women is greater. That was also the reason why we came up with the idea of offering cycling camps for women with VibeCycling. The fact that women are much less confident and question much more whether they can keep up has a lot to do with upbringing and society. Girls tend to be told: be careful and think about it.
TOUR: Does your friend also race over such extreme distances?
Elena Roch: I've often asked him because he puts so much time into looking after me at the races. But it doesn't appeal to him. And the structured training isn't for him either - he cycles a lot, but he wouldn't train for two hours on the roller. I've been training in a very structured way, especially since last year.
Is it all in the head in ultracycling?
TOUR: How important is the head in ultra-distances?
Elena Roch: There is the 50:50 head and body view, then there is the one-third team and one-third head and body view. But people often forget that the physical basis has to be there first. If I can't do it physically, then no matter how strong my head is, it won't work.
TOUR: You've even trained as a mental coach, even though you don't work in that field...
Elena Roch: I have always found topics such as personal development and mental strength exciting. It was just for me and helps me. Visualisation is extremely important to me. What are the smells, what are the sounds, what do I see? Internalising these images again and again helps me enormously. In difficult situations, I can then bring the images back to mind: the journey through the finish arch, for example. And setting goals is very important - really writing them down on a piece of paper. Positive self-talk and a thought-stopping technique also help me. When you get into a negative vortex, you can visualise a stop inside. Oh God, I can't do this anymore, it's not going to work - that you can stop it.
Goals 2025
TOUR: What are your goals for 2025?
Elena Roch: The Race Around Lower Austria is fixed. It's also the European Championships this year and I find that exciting because I have so many associations with the race and know so many people who always come to the course. And the Race Around Austria is the World Championships - I haven't planned that for sure yet, but I think so.
TOUR: The bigger the hurdle, the greater the reward. Does the next test have to be even tougher, even more extreme?
Elena Roch: Difficult - for me, the Race Around Austria was a big dream. Of course there is a lot of pressure from outside, especially when things are going well, people ask: when are you going to do the Race Across America? I've already thought about it, but you have to have 65,000 euros first. If it wasn't for the financial aspect, I would love to do it. Despite this huge media presence in 2024, it was already difficult to get sponsors. I hope that I won't incur too many costs for the races in 2025.
Kristian Bauer
Editor
