'A happy rider could be fast, but an angry rider could be faster' - Meet Trek-Segafredo's sports psychologist

Updated 30/03/2022 at 15:03 GMT

With increasing attention on athletes mental healths as well as their physical conditions, over the winter Trek-Segafredo hired sports psychologist Dr. Elisabetta Borgia. Her job, as she sees it, is to work with all areas of the team, to monitor the riders inner, to prevent burn-out and make sure their emotional well-being is not inhibiting their performance in races.

‘A happy rider could be fast, an angry one even faster’ - Meet Trek-Segafredo's sports psychologist

“Burn-out syndrome is one of the most dangerous risks that an athlete can have.”

So says sports psychologist Elisabetta Borgia of Trek-Segafredo. Borgia was hired by the men’s and women’s WorldTour outfit in November last year. As well as being a doctor of psychology, and a mother of two, she has 17 years experience as a competitive cyclist behind her, and two Italian national cyclo-cross titles to her name.

It makes her almost uniquely qualified to understand and appreciate the pressures experienced by the athletes in her charge. Not only can she treat them as patients, and support them as sports stars, but she is better able also to see them as people, with lives and interests outside the bubble of cycling.

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“Sportsmen and sportswomen are ordinary people, with family and friends,” she says on the latest episode of The Cycling Show, which is available to watch now on discovery+. “It’s not easy to separate these worlds.”

“We are thoughts, we are emotions and we are behaviours,” she adds.

In that respect, Borgia’s recruitment represents progress on a quite basic level.

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“There has been a big change in cycling, in sport, and in society in general. Five or 10 years ago there was a big prejudice that psychologists were only for mad people, for crazy people. Now it’s almost trendy.”

It also reflects less welcome, external changes to the sport that have come about in the last decade or so, with increased media attention and expectations on riders to exist not just within the field of sporting contest, but away from it as well.

“In the past, performance was mainly about physical and physiological aspects,” she says. “All the concentration was on training methods and recovery methods. Now a rider's life is [known to be] a little more complex. It’s not only about performance, but about media aspects, social aspects. Winning is not enough now. You have to be a character.”

Borgia defines the affliction of “burn-out” as “mental, emotional and physical exhaustion.”

It is one of which there is an increasing understanding within cycling, with high-profile cases such as Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo Visma) - who happily returned to the sport last year after a short absence - helping to widen its awareness.

“Many big riders, big champions, have spoken out about mental health issues,” Borgia says. “There is a strict relation between mental health issues and cycling from the performance side.”

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Although Borgia is equipped with the necessary skills to help treat riders who fall victim to burn-out, her day-to-day work lies mainly in ongoing management of the riders’ emotional well-being.

In a practical sense that means almost constant monitoring of the riders - which sounds a little Big Brother-esque, but it’s evidently preferable to the alternative.

“With the performance team we try to track every rider, almost live, in order to prevent these kinds of issues, to help them find a balance.”

Ultimately the most important thing is “effective communication,” between all areas of the team.

“I use video calls or WhatsApp. Every two weeks I have a meeting with the performance team to track every rider from a medical, training, and nutritional point of view. We have a good overview.”

If that sounds simple, it isn’t.

“A happy rider could be a faster rider, but an angry rider could be a faster rider, if they have extra determination. We have to deal with the different emotions, and we have to understand which is the right amount, the best level for the rider.”

Attention to the needs of the whole person only aids them in their professional endeavours which should, ultimately, make them more likely to win bike races.

That’s not how Borgia measures their success, however.

Rather it’s about whether or not they’ve been able to perform to the best of their individual potential, without harming themselves in the process, and are able to feel okay in themselves at the end of the day.

“For me success is to reach the performance goal we have set early in the season.” she says. “For sure, everyone would like to win, but only one can win. If you have given 100% you can’t complain about anything.”

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