At 20 years old, Blanka Vas (SD Worx) is racking up successes and expectation is rising for the young Hungarian to establish herself at the summits for a long stellar run. Which summits? All of them!
The recent winner of the Druivencross in Overijse (Belgium), the fifth round of the 2021-2022 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, is a new icon for the young generations aspiring to shine across all disciplines. “I enjoy this mix [of cyclo-cross, mountain biking and road racing]”, she explained in early November. “I don’t have a favourite and I cannot choose.”
Last weekend, Blanka won silver at the UEC Cyclo-cross European Championships. But she still won’t be drawn. “I enjoy riding different bikes,” she states simply. And her record shows she’s extremely gifted at all of them.
“When you’re young, you can learn a lot of things more easily”
In 2021, Blanka Vas successfully defended her Elite Hungarian National Champion titles in the road race, cyclo-cross and mountain bike cross-country (XCO). She also won the road individual time trial for the first time. And she almost made the huge impacts of reaching the biggest international podiums, with 4th in the XCO at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and the same position in the road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Flanders (Belgium).
“I haven’t really started road cycling, I’ve just had some races,” she still claims! Her short record on the road already also notably features a silver medal in the Under 23 road race of the European Continental Championships this September, a few days after she was 9th at the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta, her first appearance in the UCI Women’s WorldTour with SD Worx, after joining the Dutch powerhouse and her idol Anna van der Breggen in the spring.
For the young Hungarian, it all began with mountain biking when she was “3 or 4 years old”, following in the footsteps of her father, “an amateur cyclist.”
“I was very young, but I think it’s good to start early,” Vas says. “When you’re young, you can learn a lot of things more easily. A few years later, I started cyclo-cross, also in Hungary.”
At 17 years old, Vas was already committing to moving to Belgium, to grow as a cyclo-cross expert, and she also went around the globe with her national team, with the Junior events of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. “I didn’t speak English, so it was a bit hard, but I enjoyed the racing. That’s when I realised that I could improve a lot and compete with the best.”
Lars Boom: “I’m a little bit jealous”
Along with learning English the young Blanka also learned the ropes of cycling at an impressive pace. Naturally, she has no intention of slowing down now that she’s making a splash at the highest level.
“I want to keep doing the different disciplines in 2022,” she announces with a fresh hunger and with the total support of Lars Boom, a former star on the road (24 wins, including an iconic Tour de France stage on the cobbles in 2014) and in cyclo-cross (UCI World Champion in 2008), who went on to win two National Dutch Championships in mountain bike cross-country Marathon (2017, 2018) before becoming a Sports Director. He is now Team Manager of Blanka Vas’ UCI Women’s WorldTeam SD Worx.
“I see Wout [van Aert] and Mathieu [Van der Poel], and I think we see it also with Blanka, it benefits a rider to do the two or three disciplines that you like,” Boom says. “I’m a little bit jealous now that I couldn’t do it longer in my career.”
For Vas and her entourage, it’s a matter of juggling her ambitions around the world of cycling and along the year. “My only problem is about resting. I love to train, but I know recovery is also important, and that’s hard,” she acknowledges. “I think it’s really important sometimes to push her to rest more rather than train hard,” Boom concurs.
In the coming days, it means Vas will participate in the sixth round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Tábor (Czech Republic, 14 November) and then enjoy a short break, ahead of a team camp in early December and a return to competition scheduled in the iconic Citadelcross of Namur (19 December). “I really want her to have a rest, especially because she had a really busy summer,” Boom says about his young protégée. Vas is a special talent, an early riser, and she’s in for the long run.