This article was created in collaboration with Shimano.

Fenix-Deceuninck was one of the driving forces in last year’s Tour de France Femmes and the team was rewarded for its aggressive style with a stage win for Yara Kastelijn on the fourth day of racing. The multi-talented Dutch rider made it into the breakaway during the race’s longest stage – a tough and grueling 177-kilometer route through the Massif Central – and was able to ride alone to the finish line, straight into the arms of her emotional parents waiting in Rodez, for a win that maintained the unpredictable nature of the race.

Kastelijn has taken an unusual route into cyclocross. She was close to quitting altogether when she signed with a WorldTour team at 18 and lost her love of racing. However, through the steady development and careful nurturing of her talent by the Fenix-Deceuninck organisation, she has now become one of the most promising climbing talents in the women’s peloton.

Role: How did you get into cycling?

Yara Kastelijn: My dad always went cycling on Sunday mornings and my brother wanted to start too. This meant my mum drove me and my sister to training as we were too young to stay home alone. At first we just watched but eventually they asked us if we wanted to try it as they had bikes to rent at the club. They said we should try it and see if we liked it and we really did.

When did you realize that you wanted to become a professional cyclist?

When I was eight or nine. I was pretty good as a kid and I really can’t lose, even when I’m just playing games with my family. I have to win. My sister would often just let me win or I wouldn’t talk to her!

There are so many good Dutch female cyclists. Why do you think that is?

If you’re a good cyclist in Belgium, everyone wants to help you. In the Netherlands, you have to push yourself more; you have to be so good even if you just want to have a chance to win races or get into the national selection. That motivates you to get better. For a long time, the only thing you focused on was cyclocross… I just liked cyclocross more. When I rode for my club team as a kid, we rode on the road in the summer and trained in the forest in the winter. I didn’t like the road so much because I hated it when girls sat on my back wheel the whole race and then overtook me at the last moment. Cyclocross is different. If you’re strong, you win. However, my coach saw my numbers on the road and I had potential there, so we agreed that I would focus more on road racing before the 2023 season.

Do you think cyclocross has helped you on the road?

This has improved my technical skills and definitely makes riding in the peloton easier.

You have a contract until 2026 with You and Fenix-Deceuninck have been with the company for almost six years. Why is this the right place for you?

This team used to be just a cyclocross team. Before I went there, I had a contract with a WorldTour team, but I felt like I wasn’t enjoying cycling anymore. I talked to Philip (Roodhooft, the founder of the team) because he knew me from my youth, and he asked me to ride with him in a team for a year. He said to try with him for a year, and if I still didn’t like it, I could quit. I agreed, and a year later I became European cyclocross champion. This team is like a family to me. It’s not a business. I can have fun while riding, which I was missing for a while, and that makes everything so much easier.

This “fun” atmosphere in the team was clearly evident in the offensive and positive racing style of Fenix-Deceuninck at this year’s Tour de France Femmes…

Racing like this is a rule of the team; that’s why we are Fenix-Deceuninck. We race aggressively. If you wait, there are always stronger girls, but if we attack them, they get tired and that’s how you win races.

Did that help you win the fourth stage of the Tour de France Femmes last year?

It was never my plan to go for the win that day, but I was fighting for the points for the polka dot jersey. That meant I got into a big breakaway that had most of the big teams. Lucinda (Brand) told us to go full throttle and we built a lead of one minute, then two minutes and finally 10 minutes, so I thought we would make it to the finish. I was riding with my teammate Marthe (Truyen) and our sports director always said not to use too much energy at the front if you want to have a chance of winning. I knew I had to finish alone because I’m not the best sprinter. Halfway through the stage I told my sports director that I had to pee and he told me that was not a good time to stop. There were still 25 kilometers to go and I did it anyway because I felt like I had pee legs. Once I was back on my bike and back with the group, I attacked four kilometers later. My legs felt great.

What was going through your mind as you rode the 20 kilometers to the finish line alone?

I thought about how I just had to finish as fast as possible. My sports director had told me that Lotte (Kopecky) had attacked from behind, but she was going up the climb at the same speed as me. It was downhill so I had to stay focused, but I think I had one of the best days of my life on the bike.

Can you describe the feeling of victory?

It was really special because my parents were there too. All the emotions came together. Without them I wouldn’t be a racing cyclist – they went with me to all the training and races; they are always there. Sometimes you have a phase where things don’t go the way you want, but your parents are always there for you. It was a feeling of giving something back to them.

At 177 kilometers, it was the longest stage of the Tour de France Femmes. Did this distance have an impact on you?

My coach always noticed that I didn’t get any more tired after three or four hours of training. I don’t generally like to spend hours on the bike because I get bored, but I knew that I would be better off on the longer stage. I think that’s also down to the team’s nutrition plan. It’s so professional and they calculate exactly how much energy you need and use.

You say you’re not a very powerful rider and prefer longer climbs, which is unusual given your cyclocross background. How would you define yourself as a rider?

It’s rare that I’m a good climber, because where I live is completely flat. I think I’m good when the climbs are really steep, and I prefer them to be longer than ten kilometers.

Do you think winning a stage of the Tour has changed you?

It hasn’t changed me; I think I’m still myself. But I get more respect in the peloton, which makes it easier to ride through. In the weeks after my win, everyone seemed to want something from me; they needed the attention or the interview. I don’t really like that, I just want to ride and have fun. I don’t need to be surrounded by people or all that attention.

Is the Tour de France Femmes different from other races?

That’s true, but I didn’t feel it at that moment because the day after it was just another stage, another race. It happened a few months later and I know that in a few years I will still be able to say that I won a stage of the Tour de France. I still can’t really believe that I did it, I think that will happen later in my life.

Did you feel like you had time to enjoy the victory or did you move on quickly?

I think I slept maybe three or four hours a day after the win. The Tour was a great race for our team because we had the polka dot jersey for a couple of days and won a stage. It wouldn’t have mattered if I had ended up last or not finishing because we had the stage win. We had so much fun as a team afterwards. There was no pressure, we were just riding. There was music playing on the team bus every day. My stage win was for every rider. I didn’t do it alone – it was a big team effort. Even in the weeks before the race the team organised an altitude camp and everything and it all came together. We had a big party afterwards.

After this victory, did you feel additional expectations for future races?

My team didn’t put any pressure on me, but I’m always very hard on myself. Sometimes when I know I don’t have good legs, I still want to win. When I don’t perform as I hoped, I get really angry with myself. It’s not the team’s fault, but sometimes I push myself too hard.

Looking ahead to this year’s Tour de France, what are your goals for the race?

I think I will focus more on the general classification this year. Last year I crashed and lost a lot of time, but this year I showed at the Vuelta that I can also handle long climbs well. Last year this was all new for me as I had never ridden climbs of an hour before. I want to try not to lose any seconds in the first days in the Netherlands, which will be very windy and with relays. I think if I can do that, I can do my job when the climbs start. Demi Vollering is the big favorite to win this year’s Tour and SD Worx-Protime has a strong team.

What is it like to compete against such an opponent?

My goal this year is to beat Demi once. That’s my motivation. I was pretty close in the Vuelta Femenina, but then I lost a few seconds. Since it’s the Olympics this year, it’s possible that the female cyclists will have a break after the Olympics, which will help me because I’m not competing in the Games. I’ll just try to be in my best shape for the Tour de France. If you want to win, you have to focus on doing everything right. If you’ve done everything you can do, you can’t be mad at yourself. I really believe I can beat Demi in one day this year.