BEING PRO: CORYN LABECKI

Team: Jumbo Visma

Age: 30

Hometown: Tustin, California

 

You’ve had success in nearly every cycling discipline with over 70 national championship titles. Can you give a recap of your cycling experience leading up to your time with Jumbo-Visma? 

I got into cycling when my dad bought a tandem to ride with my mom. Eventually, I started riding on the back with my dad, and when I was 9 years old, we started doing longer rides like the Solvang Century. I liked it enough to get my own bike, and one of my dad’s friends dared me to enter the kids’ race at the Redlands Classic, and he said he’d give me $20 if I won. After winning that, I was hooked and wanted to do more than wait every year to do just one race. In 2003 I got my USAC license, and from there it’s history. I raced juniors for a while and started winning state championships, then eventually national championships. I raced for Marian University collegiately and United Healthcare, and then made the jump to the WorldTour and won the Tour of Flanders with Sunweb. I’m excited to be racing in 2022 with Jumbo-Visma.

How would you describe your racing style?

I don’t like labels, but I’ve always considered myself a bike racer. My strength are my sprints, because I have a really good power-to-weight ratio. I feel like I have whatever it takes to win, and I like to race smarter by being mentally prepared to win races. 

You rode to an impressive top-10 finish at the Olympic road race in Tokyo. What memory distinguishes that race from any other? 

Just the entire trip—from arriving one week early and having to wait almost nine hours in the airport to get our COVID test results. Seeing everyone wear masks every day and being around so many people in one place, like in the cafeteria at lunch, made me anxious leading up to the race. We only got to spend one night in the Olympic Village before the race, but it was cool seeing so many athletes in one place sharing a common love of sports. The race itself was full of memories. From making it into the breakaway to the finish, I felt really good about my results, especially since the course didn’t particularly suit me. After the race, I packed up and jetted off to get ready for the rest of the road season 

Do you see cycling growing in America?

It seems like the beginning of a renaissance in American cycling. There’s a lot of changes going on. The traditional style of racing in Europe doesn’t work in the U.S. I grew up racing crits and remember when pro teams like T-Mobile and Highroad were more interested in racing here in the spring rather than heading to Europe. I’ve recently seen events shifting and changing to create a more fun and attractive form of racing that is simple to understand for the viewer. 

What’s a favorite training workout that helped you improve your sprint that you recommend? What’s the best resource for cyclists looking to get into racing?

My favorite workout for a long time was a three-to-four-hour-long ride with a sprint every nine minutes. At the end of the workout, you end with a couple dozen sprints, and training the ability to sprint at the end of a long ride was really key. 

I’d say to start with your local bike shop and ask about group rides and look into joining cycling clubs. There aren’t as many resources around now as there were when I started racing so it’s definitely something there should be more of.