{"id":773937,"date":"2026-09-17T19:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/773937\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T19:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:58:14","slug":"winning-the-rainbow-jersey-has-made-me-work-a-lot-on-myself-magdeleine-vallieres-world-championships-column","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/773937\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Winning the rainbow jersey has made me work a lot on myself’ – Magdeleine Vallieres’ World Championships column"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a year it has been. It flew by. I still feel like yesterday was the day I was heading to the start line in Kigali with a mission. Since winning the UCI Road World Championship<\/a> last September, my life has changed a lot.<\/p>\n

The win was a surprise for me, and I think for the majority of the world. The question “How did your life change since becoming World Champion?” is probably the question I get asked the most.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Well, actually it’s the question I get asked in 99% of interviews. The truth is, yes, my life has changed a lot. I have gotten a lot more attention than I used to, which took me a while to get used to, and it is still a work in progress.<\/p>\n

Some days, I feel completely overwhelmed; some days I enjoy it a lot; some days it is insanely hard; and some days I am scared of the moment it will be gone.<\/p>\n

My role in a lot of the races with my team, EF Education-Oatly<\/a>, has changed, and I am still learning.<\/p>\n

It has been nice to see what I can do in the finals. I am grateful to my team for not making me skip all the steps and for teaching me step by step how to get where I want to be. In the end, what changed the most for me is that winning the rainbow jersey has made me work a lot on myself.<\/p>\n

I worked a lot to become more confident and to believe in myself more. I learned how to perform a different role in the races with my team. But in the end, I am not much different. I am the same person I was, just with new life experiences and new skills.<\/p>\n

It is crazy how all the stars aligned last year in Kigali. I won the title, becoming the first elite world champion on the road for Canada<\/a>, the year before we host Worlds in Montreal.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Magdeleine\n<\/p>\n

Vallieres on the attack at Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria one-day race (Image credit: Szymon Gruchalski\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Of course, being the defending champion on home ground comes with its load of pressure. But also, this is the chance of a lifetime. Wearing the number one in front of my family, friends, and so many people who helped me get where I am feels very full circle.<\/p>\n

More Road Worlds build-up<\/p>\n

\n

\"Wide\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: T. Brook \/ GPCQM)<\/p>\n

It is such a cool course where so many riders can shine, which will make it such an interesting race. What I am most excited about racing Worlds in Montreal is racing in front of the Canadian-Quebec crowd<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I have received so many nice messages wishing me good luck and also telling me that they would be there to cheer. I can just feel the excitement of everyone, and I am so excited to share this moment with the community. I know that whatever happens, we are all in it together, and it gives me that extra motivation and fire.<\/p>\n

The coolest thing from this year for me is receiving messages from clubs in Quebec telling me they have more riders this year, or messages telling me I inspired someone to go out on the bike or made someone believe in going for their dreams. If I could only do this for one person, then I feel incredibly proud.<\/p>\n

Wearing this jersey has been an honour. I hope I have made this iconic rainbow jersey proud.<\/p>\n

I can’t explain that feeling of putting the rainbow on, riding a custom rainbow bike, even getting a custom POC helmet and getting rainbow shoes, and a rainbow Wahoo Kickr trainer.<\/p>\n

Even a year later, every time I see it or wear it, it still feels extremely special. And I want to say thanks to everyone who made me feel special this year. I am really grateful for the wonderful time I got in the rainbow. Whatever happens on race day, I can say that I enjoyed every moment of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What a year it has been. It flew by. I still feel like yesterday was the day I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-773937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}