Emma Pooley Interview: world champion, world classIt has been a phenomenal season for the British rider Emma Pooley, who picked up wins in twelve races. It wasn't so much the quantity but rather the quality which underlines her spectacular evolution into one of the world's very best riders. Those wins included the Flèche Wallonne and Grand Prix Plouay World Cup races, the Tour de l'Aude, the Giro del Trentino, both British championships and the world champs time trial title.
Pooley previously pulled off some fine victories in 2009, including another World Cup double of Plouay and La Coupe du Monde Cycliste Féminine de Montréal, but this season marked a clear improvement. Her time trial prowess, her climbing and her confidence all moved up a notch. When she won last year, she did so on some occasions with audacious breakaways which took the others by surprise. This season, with a proven name, she did things a tougher way, in that she started as one of the clear favourites, was marked by her rivals, yet triumphed nonetheless.
While she's now one of the very best competitors in the sport, Pooley retains a very genuine modesty. When she sat down with VeloNation recently for an interview, she diverted any talk about what she had achieved in a slightly self-depreciating way; statements about her strength this year were offset by her talk about how strong her team was, how the other riders helped her, how they themselves could have won if she had not.
Her tone of voice also changed, with Pooley being more animated when she is speaking about other riders. When talking about her new world time trial championship rainbow jersey, she is far more reserved than when asked about the Maillot Arc-en-Ciel won by fellow Cervélo TestTeam rider Thor Hushovd. Her voice becomes notably more animated then, and again later when she speaks about team-mate and fellow Briton Lizzie Armistead.
The fact that she, the world TT champion and Olympic runner-up, speaks of her ‘hopes' that she is selected for London 2012 show that she takes nothing for granted. She'll continue to work hard and aims to improve further in order to make certain that she will be racing there.
In the meantime, she'll be vying for victories with the new Garmin-Cervélo squad. She is one of several riders from the current setup which will travel across with the bike manufacturer to the American squad. She doesn't want to say too much as the details are not yet released, but it's clearly something she's thinking about and planning towards. She won't have everyone from Cervélo TestTeam beside her, but there should be enough strong riders to ensure that they once again seize a sizeable chunk of victories in 2011.
And while Pooley might play down her abilities, in all likelihood she'll clock up several more big wins.