'I've worked a lot on my sprint' - Kristen Faulkner plots unpredictability on racing return

Known for her solo attacks, Olympic gold medallist Kristen Faulkner has set herself the goal of becoming a “more unpredictable rider”, working to improve her sprinting ahead of the 2025 season.

Since turning pro five years ago, the US national champion has made it her party trick to ride away from the bunch. It’s how she won a stage of the Giro d’Italia Donne, one at the Vuelta Femenina, and, most famously, the Olympic road title last summer.

Now, the 32-year-old wants to morph into a more versatile racer, in a bid to keep her opponents guessing.

“I’ve always been a really weak sprinter, which is why I’ve always gone away solo,” the EF Education-Oatly rider told Cycling Weekly. “This winter, I’ve worked a lot on my sprint, and that’s because I want to be able to sprint from a reduced bunch and race that way.

“Until now, I’ve won races solo, and the way that I can win races going forward is to be a lot less predictable.”

Faulkner’s crowning career moment so far came at last year’s Paris Olympics, where she attacked with 3km to go in the road race, winning from a leading group of four. After the event, she explained that she believed breaking free gave her her only chance of winning, pitted against faster finishers in Marianne Vos and Lotte Kopecky.

Does she expect her opponents to hunt down her attacks more closely this year? “I think a lot of the times people tried to catch me, and they couldn’t,” Faulkner said. “At the Olympics, they tried. I don’t think they gave me the leeway. But at the same time, I think people will be watching me more in moments where an attack is possible.

“One example was at the Tour de France immediately after the Olympics. Blanka Vas placed fourth at the Olympics – the only one in our group who didn’t earn a medal, and at the Tour de France, on one of the stages, we were going into the finale with a small group, and I tried to attack and she was right on my wheel. In the post-race interview, she said: ‘She got away from me once, I’m not going to let her get away from me again.’

“I think I’ll probably see that a bit more, where people are on my wheel in moments where I could attack.”

“As I look forward to the next few years, one of my goals is: how do I become a more unpredictable rider? Maybe people are watching my wheel all the way to the finish line, and I sprint. I think that’s an exciting challenge for me.”

Having suffered a concussion in a training crash in December, Faulkner has only raced once this year, placing 50th at Milan-San Remo.

She returns to racing this week at the Ardennes Classics, first at Friday’s De Brabantse Pijl, then at the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège the following weekend.

In preparation for her season, the Alaskan spent two and a half weeks in Spain’s Sierra Nevada at an altitude camp, the first of her pro career.

“I’m still coming back to form,” she said. “Hopefully this little bit of time at altitude will help speed things up a bit, but now everyone’s at altitude, I don’t know, actually. So many teams are here that maybe it’s just the big equaliser.”

What are her career ambitions going forwards? “I want to win a stage at the Tour de France. I’ve won a stage at the Vuelta, I’ve won a stage at the Giro, but I need to complete the triplet and win a stage at the Tour," she said.

“I’d like to, at some point in the next few years, win Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo – those are my two favourite races on the calendar – and I’d like to get on the podium for the World Championships in the time trial. I’d also like to win another two gold medals at the LA Olympics.”