'It was a daunting experience' - Lizzie Holden on the ups and downs of settling into WorldTour life

Manx rider reflects on her first year at UAE Team ADQ, adjusting expectations, and how women’s cycling is changing

15:30, Friday 5th January 2024

Matilda Price

Racing News Editor

Lizzie Holden joined the WorldTour with UAE Team ADQ in 2022

Since its inception in 2016, the Women’s WorldTour has represented the top echelon of women’s cycling, and when WorldTour team status was introduced in 2020, it immediately became something to strive for. Teams wanted the badge of honour of being a WorldTour team, and joining such a squad quickly became an almost universal goal for all young cyclists.

For Lizzie Holden, that goal was finally achieved in 2023 when she signed with UAE Team ADQ to make her WorldTour debut after several seasons of knocking on the door. It was something she’d always wanted, but as Holden explained to GCN from a recent team camp in Spain, it’s a step that is not without its challenges.

“It was a lot of changes,” Holden said, reflecting on the move from Le Col-Wahoo to UAE Team ADQ. “Joining a WorldTour team was a very daunting experience. It’s something I’ve always wanted, but then when you’re actually there, it’s like ‘okay, this is real now’.”

The leap from Le Col-Wahoo, a Continental team better described as scrappy underdogs rather than semi-professional WorldTour pretenders, to UAE Team ADQ was big in more than just the obvious ways.

“The resources are really good, and that’s a big change you’ll notice going from a small team to a WorldTour Team - the nutritionist, the physio, everything basically. You can contact anyone when you’re at home, and it makes a big difference.”

It isn’t all just about what you gain, though, but also about all the small adjustments you have to make in a brand-new environment.

“It’s been a lot of learning - learning on the bike, but also, this team in general has changed a lot in the recent years, a lot of new staff, a lot of new riders, so everyone’s still really getting to know each other,” Holden explained. “But I think after this year, we really know each other more now, and I think that will make a difference on the bike next year.”

As well as fitting into a new, developing team on a personal level, moving to a new team can often mean a new role and a new way of working, and the gap between Continental teams and WorldTour teams is big on this front.

“It’s a big change from [Le Col-Wahoo]. It’s more specific, you go into a race with your leader, whereas Drops was more about learning and everyone had their own opportunity. Here, it’s different, you have a different role, you work for a leader, and I really enjoy that. I like that aspect in cycling, the team goal, and I get the same satisfaction from a team member doing well as when I do. So that’s probably been the biggest change.”

It’s something I’ve always wanted, but then when you’re actually there, it’s like ‘okay, this is real now’.

Lizzie Holden

UAE Team ADQ

Adjusting expectations

Whilst Holden enjoys her new, more support-focused role, it’s not something that comes without its challenges. 2023 was a successful year for UAE Team ADQ, and Holden was on the front in moments that mattered more often than ever, but it can be difficult to look back at a year on paper, condensed down to your finishing positions, and not see wins and podiums.

Lizzie Holden was often spotted on the front of the peloton in 2023

“It’s been really different this year, because the end of my race has been before the actual end of the race this year, to help the team,” Holden explained. “I guess that’s why I probably see this season as less successful, but in a different way, because I haven’t really been going for my own results.

“It’s only when you speak to the staff and sports directors and they’re like ‘oh but actually you did this’ and you think ‘okay, yeah, I guess’. It’s different, just changing the perspective of what’s successful, instead of just the number at the end of the race.”

It’s allowed riders to actually be a domestique or have a specific role, instead of everyone just trying to win.

Lizzie Holden

UAE Team ADQ

Whilst it can be a difficult mental adjustment for a rider to make, the fact that a rider can not have those numerical markers of success and still be contracted on a top team is a sign of change in the women’s peloton.

There was once a time when only the winners could secure contracts, or any kind of pay, in an iteration of the sport where money and professionalisation were hard to come by. In that environment - and even still now on lower-level teams - everyone was racing for themselves and their survival, because it didn’t pay to be a domestique.

“That’s changing in women’s cycling, because now there are salaries people can actually live off, there’s less of people doing their own thing because they’re worried about getting a job,” Holden explained, well versed in the topic after almost 10 years in the peloton.

“I think that’s changed a lot in women’s cycling, which has allowed riders to actually be a domestique or have a specific role, instead of everyone just trying to win.”

A lack of job security may still be a problem in women’s cycling, but things are getting better, and for riders like Holden, who are often found in support roles, the benefits are wide-reaching.

“It gives you the confidence and there's less energy wasted on stress. I’m not going into each race like ‘oh, I need to really perform here, because it's my job on the line’. It really makes a big difference mentally.”

A ‘surprise’ national title

Time trialling is one of Lizzie Holden's main focuses

For all of Holden’s exploits as a domestique, and the tricky adjustments that can come with that, she was rewarded with one big win of her own last year: the British national time trial title. The elite women’s title has always been hotly contested, with the specialists going up against the strong WorldTour pros each year, and Holden has always been close to but not quite on the top step of the podium.

In 2023, though, that changed, and Holden put together a strong ride on the 27.4km course to outpace the likes of Elinor Barker, Pfeiffer Georgi and Hayley Simmonds and take her first national title after a long time of waiting.

“That was obviously my best result - and I would say only result - this year,” Holden said of the win, not without a little disappointment about the lack of wins to go with it.

“It was something I’ve always wanted and I came close [in 2022], so then to actually win was really nice, but still a surprise. I feel like when I won I remember thinking ‘did I actually win?’ because I’ve always been second, third, so I was like ‘I don’t win, is this real?’

“At the start of the season and in the races I really love, like the Classics, I had a bit of up and down with COVID and stuff, so it wasn’t the best run. I don’t know, I didn’t have many results to write home about.”

Though the nationals win may hold a strange spot in Holden’s mind - a big victory amongst a year where she didn’t win anywhere else - it came at the end of a difficult period for the Brit, and will sit on her results sheet as a reminder that she can also be a winner.

Slow and steady vs a breakthrough ride

In some ways, Holden’s journey to the WorldTour is abnormal in the current age of cycling. It was a slow, steady rise, coming up through the British scene before signing for Drops, then trying her hand in Europe with Bizkaia-Durango before another year on the now Le Col-Wahoo team, during which she eventually secured her first WorldTour contract.

Whilst that may have been a normal pathway a few years ago, there’s a growing trend now of riders’ talent being spotted and snapped up straight out of the juniors. In the past, a first-year elite on a WorldTour team was something to talk about. This year, every team is doing it - Lidl-Trek alone have signed five juniors for 2024 - and the goalposts are moving.

“It’s strange,” Holden said. “This year we have some really young girls, or you hear of other girls winning at 20, 21, some even at 19. Sometimes it’s difficult, because you start to compare yourself and think ‘I never did that, so why am I still trying?’.”

For all that riders like Lizzie Holden can find the comparisons difficult, she was also quick to point out the positives of a pathway like hers.

“But then there are also cases of people like Claire Steels, she started super late and she’s getting better every year. I think also in women’s cycling, the age factor is super different. Endurance gets better with age, and at the end of the day everyone is different. So it is hard to not compare yourself to the young people, but you just have to focus on your own progression and keep pushing,” she said.

“I imagine it would be hard being young, especially when you come straight out of juniors. Some of the girls now are going straight to WorldTour teams, so you’d have no idea what to expect. And it’s not necessarily that they won’t be at the level they were at as juniors, but it’s very different. And I imagine, mentally, if you’re not going straight in and winning, it would quite hard to adjust your expectations.”

A good Classics performance is among Lizzie Holden's hopes for 2024

As a rider who now knows what it’s like to be thrown into the WorldTour environment, the adjustments that come with it, and having to learn that it’s not always about winning, Holden knows what she’s talking about, even if she didn’t have to learn all of that at 18.

Next year, heading into her ninth year as a senior rider, Holden is settled and ready to take on old and new challenges with UAE Team ADQ. Ever a realist, Holden knows that wins of her own will have to be earned, and she’s ready to race, whether that’s for her teammates or herself.

“Hopefully a bit of both, I really enjoy both,” she said. “I would like to have my own opportunities, but also in a WorldTour team, you really have to step up to have your own opportunity. It’s a hard spot to gain.”

Whether going for her own opportunities or not, it’s clear that Lizzie Holden is where she wants to be in 2024. A valued member of a WorldTour team, finally taking up her well-earned spot in the top rungs of the sport.