It’s the day before the Tour Down Under is due to begin – the first women’s WorldTour race of the 2025 season – and Chloe Dygert sits in front of a room full of journalists. She’s one of four riders selected to take part in pre-race group press conference, yet despite those who sit either side of her on the panel, the majority of questions are being fielded directly at Dygert alone. Can she win this race? How is the leg injury? What has she been working on this winter? Everyone wants to understand what 28-year-old has been planning, and what she’s going to do next, because Chloe Dygert is an enigma. Always has been and always will be.
The American rider is a 12-time world champion, she has an Olympic medal in every colour and is the current world record holder for the three kilometre pursuit. She bursts on to the cycling scene with drama and flourish when major Championships come round, whether that be by winning or crashing in equally spectacular fashion. Dygert doesn’t do things in half-measures. But as quickly as she reappears on the world stage, the Canyon//SRAM-Zondacrypto woman can disappear. Injuries, crashes and illnesses have plagued Dygert's consistency ever since she signed with her German WorldTour team – the leg injury from her harrowing crash at the World Championships in 2020 hasn’t stopped bothering her since. We’re now almost five years on from that fateful day in Imola, however, and Dygert is telling us that she’s finally starting to feel like herself again.
“There's always something going on. Eventually, I'm going to have to get another surgery on my leg. I have to get surgery on my nose as I had an accident last year and I ended up collapsing a valve in my nose,” Dygert explains. “These are things that I have to live with and then go through but that's just part of it. I can either falter or push through, so I'm pushing through as always. I'm happy to be here, and this is the first winter I've had injury free and healthy. I’m looking forward to it.”
Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com
Dygert’s standards are high. Although she’s adamant she hasn’t been at her best over the last few years, the 28-year-old has won an Olympic gold medal in the team pursuit, a world title in the individual pursuit and time trial in 2023, as well as bronze and silver medals in at the World Championships last season in Zurich in the time trial and road races respectively. For many, this would be more than enough to constitute an incredibly successful career. Chloe Dygert, however, is not like most people.
“I didn't really have the season that I wanted last year. There's several things on and off the bike where I couldn't figure out what was going on. I wasn’t able to be who I wanted in the races that I competed in and I wasn't getting the results that I thought I should be getting with the work I was putting in,” she explains.
“I don't want to downplay how absolutely amazing it is to be at those events and to race at the highest level but it has been very hard mentally the past couple years to accept the results that I have. I'm not proud. We don't work as hard as we do to show up to participate. We don't work hard to get second place. For me personally, you know, the goal is to win. It always is to win. That's everybody's goal."
Despite her harsh analysis of her recent performances, it grants the Canyon//SRAM-Zondacrypto rider has found some solace in that she has discovered what she perceives has been holding her back so far: “I do hope that it's going to be that kind of comeback season five long years after my accident. We're always trying to dial everything in and make everything perfect. We spent some time on my TT bike and we changed the position on it. I realised I wasn't able to produce power in that position. I feel kind of silly for not being able to figure it out sooner, but it was just one of those things that we couldn't figure out why I was producing power on my road bike, but just not on my TT bike. We did a lot of reflection, a lot of looking back at previous positioning and everything. We've come up with a good, solid plan for that.”
Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
In what she hopes will be the year that sees her back to her best, Dygert explains that she will still balance both road and track ambitions in 2025. For the first time, women will race the four kilometre distance in the individual pursuit, an opportunity that the 28-year-old is relishing.
“I go into every season with major goals. This year I want experience and I want to see where I can be fitness wise. I still feel like there's a lot of unknowns with me as a rider,” Dygert says. “I still don't feel like I've ever hit my full potential just because of everything going on, injury wise. I really just want to focus on trying to be the best I can be on and off the bike, for my teammates, for myself and the team in general. Of course, the World Championships time trial and the four kilometre individual pursuit on the track are my main goals for the season.”
Dygert stresses that she thrives off the chance to consistently improve. Despite the repeated setbacks and problems she’s faced in her career, the American rider has always come back fighting – it’s that opportunity which drives her forward. The sport seems to both endear and torture her at the same time – while it has caused her pain and suffering, it’s also granted her the satisfaction and results that make it all worth it.
‘If what happened hadn’t happened, I don't think it'd make me the rider I am today, and that's pushing me forward for the seasons ahead and towards the next Olympic Games,” Dygert says. “I'm, in a way, very frustrated and not happy with how last year went, but I can sit here today and just be really excited for the year to come.”
The Tour Down Under is going to be the first test for Dygert in 2025: the rolling Adelaide hills will confirm whether this year could be the season she dreams of. We’re all watching, waiting and analysing with intrigue. Is Chloe Dygert back? Did she ever really leave? And if she wasn’t at her best when she won two World Championship medals last season, what on earth can we expect when she is on top form? As always, Chloe Dygert is an unknown quantity.
