Darcie Richards
Women’s Racing Project (WRP) Team

Darcie Richards

Women’s Racing Project (WRP) Team

Hi, my name is Darcie, I’m a 23-year-old from Perth, Western Australia, and for 2024 I have signed with the Women’s Continental cycling team, DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK.  I will be living on the road in the UK and Europe throughout the season.  

My journey this year began with a training camp in Altea, Spain, in early February.  At the training camp, I familiarized myself with my new team bike, from the UK company, Handsling bikes and trained with our new nutrition product, OTE nutrition. I met my new teammates and team staff who provided me terrific support during the mega 2 weeks of hard intense hills training.  I have never been to Spain before, let alone on a professional team camp, and I absolutely loved the entire experience. The camp really pushed me; it was both the longest (27 hours) and the most climbing (13,000 meters) I have ever done on the bike in a week. The supportive team atmosphere, good vibes, and encouragement between the girls made getting through the hard days possible. The positive team culture made such a difference; I’m so lucky and thankful to be a part of this amazing team.  

After the team camp, we received a late entry into a UCI 1.1 race in Almeria, Spain and I was selected to race.  This race had everything from strong cross winds along the coastline to a 40-minute climb. The race was a good start to my European season, placing 34th out of 100 starters. The race allowed me to develop mutual respect and understanding among my teammates.   

My journey then took me to Girona, Spain, known as the ‘Australian cycling Hub’.  Life as a pro-cyclist from Australia is a challenge as when the races are over, all others, go home to their base somewhere in Europe. But not for Aussies, we find our ‘family’ within our own cycling community during the season and for a lot of cyclists, this is in Girona.  From the feeling of having ‘family’ to eat with each night, to someone to train and coffee with, it all makes it just that little bit easier to manage being away from home. It was awesome to experience the cycling culture in Girona and get a feel for what It would feel like to potentially one day live there. I surrounded myself with the other Aussi Pro’s and learnt a lot from their commitment and discipline living the pro-life.  

The team then picked me up from Girona and we went on a road trip in the team van through the French Alps and across into Belgium. This was an unforgettable journey, driving through the snow, the valleys and amazing mountains. It took us 3 days to arrive ready to compete at my second race with the team – Belgium UCI 1.1 Altez GP Oetingen. This was a brutal race and although I didn’t have the best race on the day, I learnt so much about positioning and was able to find my feet in the big bunches of Belgium again. The night after the race I was very ill with a stomach bug, and it would prove to be the hardest part of the last 2 months in Europe. Being stuck violently sick in a hotel room on the other side of the world is very isolating and scary. It also played on my mind needing to take some time off the bike to recover; always feeling the need to get the training done.  Listening to your body and allowing yourself to rest is just as important as training and something I am still learning as a rider.  

Next, I travelled with the team back to the UK and where I experienced the real “Winter in the UK”. From mud and potholes to narrow roads and hedges, the UK really delivered. I received the opportunity to race a UK National Road Series (NRS) race called Cicle Classic – also known as the UK version of the Paris-Roubaix, Cycling Race in France. There were 136 starters, and it was all about positioning coming into the narrow roads and mud sectors on the course. My team, DAS, was the team to beat going into the race, as we are one of the only Continental Teams in the UK.  We really wanted a result, and this made me feel quite nervous and under pressure as I wanted to perform at my best for the team. I was happy with my ride after coming off my illness and was proud of my resilience.  

Lessons learnt to date: 

• It’s important to live a balanced life; learning about different cultures, meeting new people and having new experiences are all part of the journey. 

• Keeping the journey in perspective; success or failure as a cyclist is more than one bad race or training session; it is taking the lessons from it and using these to help with the next challenge. 

• How enjoyable it is to be part of a high-functioning team. I’ve never experienced the comradery and understanding from like-minded people as much as this. 

Challenges ahead: 

• To keep calm and not let the spontaneity of the racing life make me anxious. 

• To not be stressed by living out of a suitcase for months on end 

• Staying in the present while building a future 

I can’t believe that since the beginning of 2024 I have been in Australia, Spain, France, Belgium and the UK, what a way to start the year and it’s only March! All of this has only been possible by having the support of WRP. It has taken so much pressure off financially and allowed me to ‘not say no’ and take every opportunity that has presented so far on my journey. I’m so excited for what will come next!