Friday, the thirteenth: Very young Xaydee Van Sinaey mainly sees a future on the road

Niels Bastiaens •
Friday, December 29, 2023 at 1:13 PM

Interview Every Friday at 1:13 p.m. in our winter section ‘Friday, the thirteenth’ you can read an interview with a cross or cyclo-cross rider who finished thirteenth in one of the previous weeks. This ranges from junior girls to elite men, from C2-cross to World Championships. What’s the story? This week the number thirteen of the Zilvermeercross in Mol: Xaydee Van Sinaey.

The Zilvermeercross was not her least, but certainly not her best result of the season for the barely 18-year-old Van Sinaey. “Thirteenth is just a very good result for me. There were really good riders at the start in Mol. Maybe not Alvarado and Van Empel, but other strong ladies. The week before in the X2O cross of Herentals it was even better. Now I just came back from training camp in Spain, and fatigue played a role in the last laps.”

Van Sinaey has only been around the pros for a few weeks, but she is actually only a first-year promise. She was one of the trendsetters among the juniors last season, with a fifth place at the World Championships in Hoogerheide as an exponent. “It’s a big step. But if you look at my results this season, they are far from bad. In all the smaller races I am either in or close to the top 10. And in the bigger races it is simply difficult to compete against the top riders, because of my age and the starting position. Starting from row nine is almost impossible.”

Since there are few or no separate U21 races, it is difficult for Van Sinaey to compare where she stands compared to her peers. “Among the U23 riders you have four girls who really stand out. Zoe Bäckstedt, Kristyna Zemanova, Leonie Bentveld and Marie Schreiber; you can’t do anything about that. Behind that you often have to look: how am I doing? The European Championship (where she finished seventh, ed.) was the only good benchmark in that regard, and I was very happy then too. It was a fair fight there, but in the other crosses I don’t want to compare myself with them. Zoe Bäckstedt is in the front row and almost immediately leaves half a minute faster.”

Cycling school in Geraardsbergen
Van Sinaey is doing well, and has also been cycling for a long time. “I started racing very early. As soon as it was allowed, so with the first-year minors, I was there. It has now been six or seven years. My dad also cycled, especially on the mountain bike. The same goes for my mom’s dad. I used to dance first. But I also wanted to participate in the cycling school at the Gavers in Geraardsbergen, where I live. Only, those two both fell on a Wednesday afternoon, so I had to choose. It has become the cycling school.”

“That didn’t mean much. It was mainly riding around on the mountain bike,” says Van Sinaey. “Often also some walking. But that was really very young. I think I was about seven or eight years old when those youth camps started. Febe De Smedt and Kinay De Moyer were also there at the time, so I have known them for a long time.”

Since then, the young Belgian has also been following the crosstoppers on television. “Ceylin (del Carmen Alvarado, ed.) has always been a great idol for me. She’s had some bad years now, but she’s just so resilient and strong. I have always been her supporter. She is always very happy and it is fantastic that I am now in the team with her. Then I can also go on training with her. We even warm up together sometimes. It is also nice to sometimes see how she tackles things before and after the cross.”

The gambits
Although it is not yet clear to Van Sinaey whether her future lies in the cyclo-cross world at all. “I’m becoming more of a road racer,” says the Crelan-Corendon rider, who was already fifth in the Tour of Flanders for juniors this year, second at the BC time trial and tenth at the World Cup. “That’s what the team wants, and I don’t mind that. I don’t consider myself the most technical rider in the pack anyway. I’m having fun with it, but it’s becoming less of a goal. In the future it may become more of a 70/30 ratio between the road and the field.”

“Mainly because the road best suits my capabilities,” she explains. “Or so it appears from tests I have done. I am less explosive, which is important for a motocross rider. I am very strong: I can ride at the same pace for a long time. For example, I can climb very well, and I enjoy doing that. Time trial too. I enjoyed watching such a Tour de France Femmes. If I can start there in four or five years, that would be a dream come true. But at the moment I’m not strong enough for that, I think.”

Last year she got a taste of the road with the Danish Team Rytger. “I was still too young at the time to play for Fenix-Deceuninck. But as a guest rider for the Danes I was able to ride all the important races. I can go to Fenix-Deceuninck in the coming year. It’s fantastic to see how well they are all doing. Yara Kastelijn, Julie De Wilde and Marthe Truyen all also compete in cross-country and are making fantastic progress.”

Sports management
What is clear for the young Van Sinaey: she is doing everything she can to ensure her future in racing. “I’m still young, but I’m already quite serious. Everything revolves around the course. That has always been the case. In recent years I went to a regular school, although I didn’t go that often. If I indicated that I had to leave, that was no problem. For example, I had to go to Australia for a month for the World Cup, or away for three weeks in February. You miss a lot, so in practice I wasn’t at school too much.”

“That problem has now been solved, because I completed secondary school and am now studying sports management in Bruges, via distance learning,” says Van Sinaey. “I process all the learning material myself and can schedule my own exams. Some periods I am super productive, in other periods I can put everything on track. For some subjects, studying alone is easier than others. For example, in a certain computer subject I don’t know at all whether I am doing well or not. There is no real correction key and I cannot count on other students. That is quite difficult, and sometimes lonely.”

But that does not detract from the sporting ambitions of the talented rider from Geraardsbergen. “I’m already thinking ahead to the Belgian Championships, where there is a title for the U23 riders. We ride together with the pros, but I would like to become the best in my age category. It will be a difficult battle with Fleur Moors, Lore De Schepper and Julie Brouwers. They are also strong riders, but I would like to try. We will really be riding separately at the World Cup, so I might be looking forward to that even more.”