And those pressures are increasing as fast as the racing speeds and power data of today\u2019s hyper-professional, uber-competitive sport. Riders who don\u2019t push into extremes will get left behind by cycling\u2019s superteam era.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why \u201cburnout\u201d became a buzzword of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n
Human Powered Health team psychologist Allie Wagener told Velo that burnout could become a permanent part of the lexicon unless the focus on watts, weight, and CdA is mirrored by the attention to mental welfare.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe peloton is getting better and more committed every year, and things are getting faster. Teams, staff, riders \u2013 the sport needs an understanding that, as performance levels increase, so do the pressures,\u201d Wagener said. \u201cThe mental dangers increase just as much as the physical ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yes, teams are putting more focus on riders\u2019 mental health. But if the sport continues to evolve like this, that current level of focus might not be enough,\u201d said Wagener, who also runs her own Achieve Performance Psychology<\/a> practice.<\/p>\n Cycling\u2019s high-performance evolution piles pressure onto pros Wagener wasn\u2019t exaggerating.<\/p>\n Teenagers hit the WorldTour with years of power data on their training log, an HRV band on their wrist, and a perfectly dialed diet. They track their \u201cjourney\u201d on an Instagram feed that counts tens of thousands of followers.<\/p>\n Not even Tadej Poga\u010dar, a generational talent<\/a> with a $50 million contract and an eternal legacy, is safe from cycling\u2019s pressure pandemic.<\/p>\n Injury, fatigue, and the pestering media turned the Slovenian superhero sullen<\/a> last summer as he closed down on his fourth Tour de France title.<\/p>\n Fortunately for Poga\u010dar, his was only a glancing blow from burnout. He romped to a second world title soon after a vacation put him right.<\/p>\n Not everyone is so lucky.<\/p>\n Multiple cyclocross world champion Fem van Empel<\/a> recently put her career on indefinite pause at the age of 23.<\/p>\n \u201cThe motivation and the enjoyment I have had in cycling for years are missing,\u201d she said, adding that her chase for optimal made her \u201cmore of an athlete than a person.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, a stack of successful sub-30-year-olds retired for good this winter. Performance pressures, racing fears, and biking burnout<\/a> led them to hand in their bib numbers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to understand these early exits.<\/p>\n Success or failure is all too evident in cycling\u2019s high-performance era<\/a>.<\/p>\n Power files are scrutinized daily. Macronutrients, sleep scores, recovery rates, body mass, and skinfold centimeters form trend-lines on trainers\u2019 charts.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no escape via social media either. \u201cLikes\u201d and reposts light up the feed of a rider who\u2019s deemed \u201crelevant.\u201d Trolling comments remind those who are not.<\/p>\n How a \u2018stress bucket\u2019 can help beat burnout Team psychologists are scrambling to stop more cases like that of Van Empel.<\/p>\n \u201cMore now than ever, the sport needs to be preventative but also be prepared for [psychological] problems if they do arrive,\u201d Wagener said.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing able to help earlier means riders might be off for a week or two rather than a month or a year. It cannot be reactive,\u201d she said. \u201cThis needs to be a proactive approach.\u201d<\/p>\n Nikki Crawley works with the men\u2019s and women\u2019s EF Education teams and is a part of the Changing Minds<\/a> psychology organization.<\/p>\n She explained to Velo that helping riders understand their triggers is crucial to this proactive approach to mental health.<\/p>\n \u201cWe try to help athletes understand what their key sources of stress are, and what adds water to their \u2018stress bucket,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThat also helps them understand their coping mechanisms \u2013 what are the \u2018taps\u2019 that they can use to offload and reduce some of that water.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cbucket\u201d concept<\/a> is widely used by practitioners to help individuals conceptualize mental load.<\/p>\n For riders, bad training data or sleep scores could fill their stress bucket just as fast as relationship issues or family worries.<\/p>\n A rider who\u2019s aware of their bucket filling too quickly can open the taps before it overflows.<\/p>\n \u201cTypical red flags I\u2019ll see with athletes are if their sleep is interrupted, or if they\u2019re developing a difficult attitude to food,\u201d Crawley said. \u201cOr you might see them overtraining, undertraining, or not recovering.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of warning signs that can show up, but they are different for each person,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n What we can learn from how pros navigate burnout Burnout can end a pro\u2019s career.<\/p>\n But cycling can overwhelm us weekend warriors, too.<\/p>\n Anybody hell-bent on hammering their next gravel fondo, evening crit, or Zwift race while balancing work and family can get beat down by cycling\u2019s all-consuming lifestyle.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we can learn from how pros overcome three issues shared by all cyclists:<\/p>\n 1: Bad legs and bad data The only thing more demoralizing than bad leg day is seeing exactly how badly you sucked on the workout file. Scrolling the stats from those under-power, heinous heart rate intervals can spark a spiral of self-loathing and self-doubt.<\/p>\n At the pro level, it\u2019s not only watts that cause worry.<\/p>\n All the mental and physical problems<\/a> that can spiral out of the chase for \u201crace weight\u201d became painfully clear last season at the Tour de France Femmes, and more recently in the self-sidelining of Veronica Ewers.<\/p>\n Both Wagener and Crawley encourage riders to take a holistic view of performance that goes beyond the power meter and weight scales.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can be dangerous to feel like you\u2019re always being evaluated and chasing numbers. This is why it\u2019s important to have different types of goals,\u201d Crawley said.<\/p>\n \u201cData is very outcome-orientated. It can help for athletes to have clarity over the processes they\u2019re going after, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Processes and outcomes In the WorldTour, workouts are often laced with \u201cprocess goals.\u201d Form, positioning, and fueling discipline are common examples.<\/p>\n For us amateurs, on-bike processes could be complemented by longer-term targets around consistency, recovery, or sleep. This helps to shift focus from data outcomes and typically leads to longer-term success.<\/p>\n The mindfulness a rider needs to conceptualize their \u201cpressure bucket\u201d has a key role in this layered approach to performance.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great that we have raw data to keep elevating the sport, but it can also be a sole focus of pressure,\u201d Wagener said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want riders to actively recognize when they\u2019re becoming overly focused on data or feel pressured by it. How do they notice those feelings and not get attached to them?\u201d<\/p>\n As we\u2019ll explore further below, this self-awareness also helps preserve a rider\u2019s sense of self.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want riders to see beyond data as a measure of performance, and definitely not to tie it to their worth as a person,\u201d Wagener continued. \u201cWe ask them to consider their role as a teammate and remind them of their life outside of the sport \u2013 maybe they\u2019re a parent, wife, or husband.\u201d<\/p>\n Consider Van Empel.<\/p>\n Her whole identity became inextricably entwined with her life as an athlete<\/a>. Only time away from the sport could force a separation.<\/p>\n 2: Strava, Insta, and social media comparison Training data provides a rider with a painful source of comparison to their recent selves.<\/p>\n Social media widens the reach of this comparison trap.<\/p>\n A surprisingly large proportion of pros join us amateurs in sharing power data on Strava. The mega-watts of a perfect workout are there for friends, colleagues, and rivals to ponder.<\/p>\n Likewise, Instagram and TikTok feeds boast of PRs from a breakthrough session and share postcard panoramas from a blue-sky long ride.<\/p>\n Mediocrity doesn\u2019t make it onto these finely manicured feeds.<\/p>\n For some, social media can create a perfect storm of inferiority complexes and disordered behaviors.<\/p>\n Crawley at EF Education-EasyPost suggested that simply logging out isn\u2019t a long-term solution to problems provoked by apps like Strava and Instagram.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not as simple as just avoiding social media,\u201d she said. \u201cInstead, we want riders to be aware that they might feel more vulnerable, or might allow their inner critic to speak louder, when they look at social media.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want them to get to know that critical voice and understand it. That helps them manage [the critical voice] through strategies that distance them from it,\u201d Crawley said.<\/p>\n Dismissing self-doubt can help riders build psychological resilience.<\/p>\n \u201cSocial media can intensify any difficult thoughts someone might already have. We want riders to be aware of how they\u2019re impacted by what they see, but not get attached to it or see it as an indicator of self-worth,\u201d said Human Powered Health\u2019s therapist Wagener.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when it really comes back to a rider knowing their \u2018why,\u2019 their \u2018purpose,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n 3: The blurring of identity, and burnout The dangers of data and social comparison are symptoms of cycling\u2019s overarching problem. The sport\u2019s 24\/7 demands can swallow the individual and leave only an athlete shell.<\/p>\n This \u201cidentity crisis\u201d puts riders on the precipice of burnout.<\/p>\n \u201cAn athlete\u2019s whole identity can get tied up in the idea of them \u2018being a rider,\u2019 and they become entrenched in the sport. That\u2019s not a sustainable place to be,\u201d Crawley told Velo. \u201cSo we\u2019re really trying to help them to understand they\u2019re not just a rider. What else gives them joy or sources of excitement outside of racing or training?<\/p>\n \u201cTo be happy, athletes need ways to hold self-worth beyond their sport,\u201d Crawley said.<\/p>\n For Wagener and Crawley, maintaining interests beyond the bike is key to career longevity.<\/p>\n For some, that\u2019s cooking<\/a>, blogging<\/a>, or perfecting the art of a barista. Mathieu van der Poel can\u2019t stop swinging a golf club.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cDoing something totally different is really important in preventing identity from being solely tied up in being \u201ca rider\u201d and the sport,\u201d Crawley said.<\/p>\n This dissociation can be problematic. Success in pro cycling requires utter commitment and a tolerance for sacrifice.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s why the off-season is becoming increasingly important.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Fem](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/kramon_250201_CX_WCh_Lievin_01529-1200x800.jpg\"\/)
Three time CX world champion put her career on hold at the age of only 23. \u00a9kramon (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Z8A_1161-2-2-1200x750.jpg\"\/)
Team psychologists help riders understand what fills their \u2018stress buckets\u2019 and how they can prevent overflow. (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Even](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Z8D_6829-1200x800.jpg\"\/)
Even cycling superhero Poga\u010dar had a brush with burnout in 2025. (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Chasing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Z8D_5597-1200x926.jpg\"\/)
If you feel down after a bad workout, imagine how the pros must feel when they can\u2019t hit the numbers. (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Chasing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Z8C_1288-1200x800.jpg\"\/)
Riders are encouraged to assess performance with measures beyond hard data. (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-1564844220.jpg\"\/)
Even pros wants some shots for the \u2018Gram. (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Z8A_9283-1200x844.jpg\"\/)
The 24\/7 demands of pro cycling can devour riders and trouble their self-identities. (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n