“I had the feeling I wasn’t good enough any more,” she wrote on Instagram, after finishing the first part of the year with ‘only’ a win at the Tour of Flanders.
“I wasn’t looking for excuses and being straightforward is what I stand for,” she wrote. “So when I said ‘I should be happy with this spring after the winter I had’ in the interview after [Liège-Bastogne-Liège] I should’ve thought twice before staying it.”
The Belgian was referring to a winter campaign compromised by a knee injury that she picked up in a crash at the Simac Ladies Tour in October.
“But I was really done with the opinions, high expectations and really had the feeling I am just not good enough anymore,” she added. “We need media. But sometimes it is hard to hear everything people are saying about you without having any clue what’s happening in our lives.”
Most riders would consider the results accrued by the SD Worx-Protime rider over the past few months a resounding success. As well as winning Flanders, she was second at Dwars Door Vlaanderen, fifth at Liège and ninth at Milan-San Remo.
The 29-year-old, however, has set her standard even higher. Last year she had taken several high profile results by this stage, including wins at Paris-Roubaix and Strade Bianche.