Interview Laura Vainionpaä

In her childhood she was one of the best ice hockey players in her country. Less then 10 years later she's still among the best in her country, but this time in cycling. She was born in Finland but nowadays she's living and racing in Belgium. She was already in the breakaway in her first race since the restart of the season and it won't be the last time, so races will never be boring with Laura Vainionpaä!

You've been an ice hockey player in your childhood and even made it to the national team of Finland. Why did you decide to make the switch to cycling?

Yes I did quite everything I could till I was 15 years old. Ice hockey, football, cross country skiing, cycling... the list is endless. I started competitions in everything when I was 7 years old. But I decided to go for ice hockey and I went for sports high school. I had big opportunities after graduation to go university in USA to play but I had lot of concussions and the doctors didn’t really recommend ice hockey so I thought maybe I’ll try to put all for cycling then. At the same time my brother also changed his goals from hockey to cycling.

You were close to the Finnish road title on multiple ocasions, how often do you dream of wearing that beautiful jersey one day?

Finnish nationals are something really different than the racing I’m used to. You never know what’s gonna happen there as we have normally only 20 riders starting. But yes I would love to win that jersey! It’s one of my dreams. I am the only one from the family who hasn’t won it yet as my brother won it and my dad was the champion last year

The season has been shorten a lot because of the ongoing pandemic. What are your ambitions for the last month of the season?

 

I had big goals and great racing calendar for this year. In October we have Lotto Belgium Tour and that’s my goal to perform on my highest level. Till then I’ll keep up my training and we have couple smaller races before that! Also I’m still missing my win from this season. 

 

 

You were in the breakaway during the first race since the season break. Do you like an agressive style of racing? Or you prefer to stay in the bunch and wait longer on parcours that suit you better?

I prefer aggressive style of racing. I don’t like to sit in the bunch and wait for sprint. Doesn’t matter what kind of parcours it is, I’ll always race aggressively and I love it!

How would you describe yourself as a rider. What are your favourite kind of parcours?

Me as a rider..it’s difficult. I am really fast on the sprints but I don’t like bunch sprints. I like climbing and I am working on longer hills but at the moment I think short and steep ones fits me better. But You can mostly see me in the breakaways and sprinting from a small group.

What are your goals on a long term?

Of course I want to get into a good professional team what pays salary that I can do cycling full time and I don’t have to go to my full time work at the Belgian Post anymore, haha. So,I am working on getting the best cyclist I can be.

You're living in Belgium now, tradionally a country where cycling is quite popular. Do you think it's a big difference with Finland or it's about the same in both countries?

Cycling in Finland is very small compared to Belgium. It’s getting better and bigger all the time with more and more people getting into cycling. And that’s really great to see! We have some very good young talents in Finland too!

If you're not racing yourself, do you sometimes watch races on TV too? Which races do you like to ride and watch the most?

watch cycling on TV too. Mostly when my boyfriend is racing but I’ll watch everything doesn’t matter which race is on TV! Classics, European and World Championships are my favorite to race and watch!

 

 

Thanks for the interview, Laura!