Emma Norsgaard

An explosive classics rider with a fast finish, Emma Norsgaard is Movistar’s ‘Danish Dynamite’. Previously considered a sprinter, the 24-year-old's Tour de France Femmes breakaway stage win in 2023 has opened her eyes to attacking the open road ahead. Expect fireworks. 

With her time trialing prowess and newfound attacking instincts, wins like the Tour de France Femmes stage win are the way she is hoping to add to her tally. But channelling her emotion into speed is something she has to manage too.

“On race days, I feel everything. Anxiety, hope, happiness, fear. It doesn't matter if it’s a big or small race, quite often in a stage race I’m so emotionally done by the end. Racing is hard for me because I dig so deep into my emotions.”

This emotional energy works both ways for Norsgaard:

“It is my strength, for sure, because I can also really make myself better, but I can also bury myself deep in a big black hole. I can tell myself I’m the world’s best rider, but I can also tell myself the opposite. It can make me better, and also ruin me in so many ways.”

Norsgaard might dream of medals like every other rider, but when it comes to her speed dreams, they aren’t just related to performance. To her, speed is still all about that feeling of childlike wonder.

“When I think of speed, I think of training rides I often do by myself around Girona, where I live. Sometimes I start daydreaming that I’m in a race, like I’m in the last kilometre, or attacking. It’s like I’m a child, or playing a Playstation in my head! It’s honestly my favourite thing – I said to my husband that if I ever stop playing like this on my training rides, then I should retire, because the child has become a woman.”