THE LAST WORD
LAURENS TEN DAM
Laurens reflects on the power of visualisation for professional cyclists
Before the last time trial of the 2013 Tour de France, I was lying in my bed and had just had a lunch of dry, white pasta. I closed my eyes and suddenly I was visualising. I swear I could feel the power of my legs trying to get that 55 big ring going. I could ride every corner, my eyes closed, and feel the sensations of the final sprint towards the finish line. And after the finish I would go over it again and again, until it was time to pin that number on and get dressed for that important time trial. Nobody taught me this, it just was there, but it appeared only on the really important days out there. Doing this, I prepared myself for the pain that was coming.