How heartbreak motivated Canadian cyclist Mike Woods to the Tour de France

Mike Woods was 25 years old when he decided, after years as a competitive runner, to give professional cycling a shot. His girlfriend asked him, Do you think you’ll ever make it to the Tour de France?Seven years later, those expectations have become reality. Woods is one of two Canadians competing in the Tour de France, which kicks off in Belgium on Saturday.

But things took a turn for the worse in college. Woods suffered several stress fractures linked to over-training and poor diet, and those injuries eventually forced him to give up the sport completely. “Ultimately I was able to do this, but now, reflecting back on how far I had to go to get here and knowing what I know now, there is no way I would’ve tried to make the Tour from the state I was in at the time.”

Woods speaks confidently about his record on the road and is frank about the hard work it took to get there. But sometimes, when he thinks about how long he’s been cycling compared to his competitors, he feels a pang of imposter syndrome. A few months after Hunter’s death, Woods competed at the Vuelta, a race in Spain. In the gruelling final moments of the race’s 17th stage, Woods’ coach told him to focus on his family. Woods won the stage and later dedicated the victory to his son.“Certainly. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of Hunter and that time that my wife and I went through,” he said.

“We’ve been living an incredible life this last year and a part of that for me is excelling on the bike and making the most of this crazy life that I live. The Tour is certainly an extension of that.”Woods will don a bright-pink kit Saturday as he races alongside seven other teammates, including Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran, who came second in the Tour de France in 2017, and American Tejay Van Garderen, who recently finished second at the Criterium du Dauphine.

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