In an Olympics full of unforgettable moments, Kristen Faulkner’s victory in the women’s cycling road race will stand as one of the most inspirational of Paris 2024 — and her backstory as one of the most unconventional. Kristen, a Harvard graduate in computer science, moved to New York City in 2017 to pursue a career in venture capital. She took a beginner’s cycling class that year, primarily as a means of staying fit in the city. In 2020, she left venture capital behind to become a professional cyclist.

Now, just four years later, she’s a double Olympic gold medallist in both the women’s team pursuit and women’s road race— a feat made all the more impressive by the fact she only learned she’d be participating in the road race in July, after a fellow Team USA member resigned her spot.

With that historic Olympic double secured, Kristen has now set her sights on the Tour de France Femmes, which began yesterday. Riding as part of the EF-Oatly-Cannondale team, she’s hoping to replicate her Olympic success in Le Grand Boucle.

As our Cadillac LYRIQ is the support vehicle for this year’s Tour — the first time the event has had EV support vehicles for the entire duration — we sat down with Kristen to learn what it takes to get into the mindset of a phenomenal athlete, explore the surprising parallels between venture capital and cycling, and hear how she hopes her Olympic victory will inspire a new generation of girls to take up the sport.

Hi, Kristen. How are you doing?

I'm good, thanks. I’ve just arrived in Rotterdam. So, I went straight from USA House to EF House. It's been a pretty hectic few weeks. I feel like I haven't had the chance to celebrate or rest or anything. I feel like after the Tour de France I'll get that chance finally.

Firstly, congratulations on your double Olympic triumph. How did it feel? It’s the first time since LA 84 that an American woman has won the cycling road race. Has that sunk in yet?

To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about the history of women’s cycling in the U.S. when I crossed the finish line. I wasn't thinking about what had happened in the past. I was so focused on the here and now – ‘get to the finish line, do the best you can in race’. So, I think it was actually quite a bit after the race when someone told me [that she was the first American woman in 40 years to win the race]. For me the biggest thing is that, you know, cycling in the United States, especially for women, is not a very big sport, it's not a very popular sport. I think the most exciting opportunity is really just to raise awareness of the sport, get more girls on bikes, and I hope that this performance brings US cycling back on the map in a big way. You know, for me it's great to earn a gold medal, but it would be even greater if it had the impact of getting more girls on bikes.

You started cycling relatively late – it was in 2017 that you took your first ever cycling class. How do you go from being a novice, then six, seven years later, performing on the biggest stage in the sport? What were the key components to your success?

Well, I think the first thing is that I was ‘all in’, you know. I started racing and I was really dedicated. I would train anywhere from two hours a day minimum during the week and four hours on the weekends. Every single weekend, I was going away to races, I was going to bed early, I wasn't staying up late, going out and partying.

A lot of people see this kind of Cinderella story of what happened, but they don't realize a lot of the challenges and roadblocks and sacrifices that went along with it, you know. I left my job and moved to Europe. When I did that, I had no idea what to expect – I didn't know anyone in Europe, and none of my friends or family really knew what I was doing. [Laughs]
It was never a Cinderella story until it worked out. Like, I sacrificed a lot of other things in my life to make it happen.

The second thing is that I was really open to learning constantly – I was always studying races, I would review races after every race I did and analyze it, watch how I did, watch what the leaders did, I would talk about races with my directors and my coaches. I was always trying to figure out how can I get from where I am now to, to the next level up and I had to take a lot of feedback. I did a lot of things wrong, but I've always been willing to learn and listen and work hard, and I think that made the biggest difference.

You studied computer science at Harvard, then went into venture capitalism, and now you’re a professional cyclist…that’s a pretty huge career shift. Do you think there was anything in your education and in your work that you've transferred over into your cycling?

Yeah, absolutely. Computer science at Harvard was an engineering course and it was really difficult. I had to be super focused. There were many nights – you know, Friday nights – where I was working on p-sets and my friends were out partying…so I think the sacrifice and the dedication, the early bedtimes, and really just having to put my head down and do work is something that was comfortable to me. I also think being a college athlete [Kristen was a rower at Harvard], having to balance school and sports was similar to when I started cycling and I had to wake up at 5 a.m. to go train before work. You know, it was an extension of what I had done in college.

I think in terms of like actual learning, you know, venture capitalism is actually very similar to cycling in some ways – you're always evaluating risks, you're trying to figure out if it's worth being patient or being aggressive.  But when you do decide to make a decision, you go all in. You know, you don't look back, you don't hesitate, you don't doubt yourself, and you commit.

Your average pace during the final of the road race was a, frankly staggering, 25 miles per hour. What keeps your mind focused when you're on the saddle and you're exerting so much energy? Are you thinking being in the zone, or are you trying to motivate yourself?

There’s just so much thought process going on in the bike race. You know, I’m thinking about who the people are around me? Who are the leaders? Who's in shape right now? Who has teammates? Who doesn't have teammates? Who's a sprinter? Who would go with me if I attacked? Who wants us to come down to a brunch sprint? Who wants it to fall apart? How do I win from this group of people? So, for me, when I was in the bigger group, I went really hard up the cobble climb because I wanted to cut the group in half. I needed to make sure that if I attacked later on, there wouldn't be 10 people chasing me.

I've often talked about the ‘daydream sandwich’ during a race. You have this big goal, this big dream that you think about. It motivates you and inspires you to take a certain path. And then you just focus on the work, you know – that’s the middle part of sandwich – it’s all process, control what you can control. Put your head down, do the work. And then at the very end when it's like really, really hard, you're in the dumps, you know, and you're like is this worth it? You know, that moment is when you think again of the prize, the goal. And so,
you know, in the final kilometers or something, if you need some inspiration, you can, you can think like, this is why I'm doing it.

How much of a confidence boost does winning the Olympic golds actually give you, and the EF-Oatly-Cannondale team more generally, heading into the Tour de France Femmes?

We can have a lot of confidence as a team going into this race. You know we [EF-Oatly-Cannondale] we got two stage wins at the Vuelta. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to go for that again here at the Tour de France, and I think we have confidence in our fitness and each other and in our race tactics, and hopefully we can show that here at the Tour.

For me personally, [the Olympic win] is a tremendous boost. You know, I definitely have a lot of confidence in my fitness right now. I have confidence in my race tactics. I've had a lot of injuries in the past and so I haven't really been able to race at my potential, but I've always known it's been there and the people close to me know it's there. So, I think with the right preparation and health on race day, I was able to show what has kind of been there for a long time, but not really been able to manifest itself.

Which part of the tour are you most looking forward to?

Oh, which part of the tour? We have a chef here, which I'm stoked about. That’s definitely it. [LAUGHS]

In terms of the racing, I'm excited for the ITT because I've been doing a lot of pursuit efforts. And, honestly, this sounds cliché, but I'm being completely honest – I'm just excited to race with my teammates, because I haven't raced with them since June, and I've been doing so much track preparation for the Olympics. I'm just excited to go out and road race again and race with my EF teammates, because they're not just my teammates, they're actually my friends, and I don't get that on every team. So, I’m just excited to go have some fun.

Perhaps an unexpected consequence of your success at the Olympics is that we’ll now see a load of venture capitalists quitting en masse to take up a career in cycling. But to any aspiring cyclists – VCs or otherwise – what advice would you give?

I mean, the first thing I would say is do what you're passionate about. I heard that a lot when I was younger, and I thought it was kind of cliche, but the reality is that you're going to work hard in something you're passionate about. Because when you're passionate about something, it doesn't feel like work, and when you're passionate about something, it's not hard to stay up late, it's not hard to wake up early, it's not hard to do the hard things…I mean, it is hard, but it's not as hard to do the hard things.

People will find success if they’re passionate in whatever they do. When you're motivated, you know, you can be successful at anything. I think sometimes people get into the mindset of ‘I can only be super successful if I do this job’, and the reality is, people need to have a bit more faith in themselves, so they can be successful at a lot of things.

I think the second thing is to just, like, really trust your gut – there were so many people that told me not to quit my job in VC, there were dozens of people who told me not to do the road race at the Olympics because they thought it would compromise team pursuit or they thought that I wouldn't have a chance at a medal. But I really trusted my gut, and thought this is a race I could do well in. That doesn't mean ignore advice – I think it's really important to gather as much insight and advice as possible you can for people – but at the end of the day, you have to take all their advice and come up with your own conclusion, and really trust yourself and trust what you can do.

Do you ever think about your career post-cycling?

I think about this a lot, but I definitely don't have a concrete idea of what I want to do. You know, I'd love to support entrepreneurs, maybe as an angel investor. Maybe do my own investing on the side, maybe go into a start-up. I'm actually starting a Masters of Nutrition this fall online, so, maybe I'll do something there…yes, maybe I'll do something in nutrition or start a food company.

I think the biggest thing for me right now is, I have a job I want to do at least for the next four or five years. So, I want to focus on doing that really well, and I think over the next five years I'll have a lot of opportunities to really learn about myself and ask myself questions, and as I get, as I do that more and more I'll start to get a sense of what I want to do afterwards.

Best of luck to Kristen and everybody from the EF-Oatly-Cannodale team for the Tour de France Femmes. You can follow the team’s progress at @cadillaceurope, @ef.oatly.cannondale and @efprocycling and #TDFF2024 on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads, Facebook, and YouTube.

And don’t forget to spot the LYRIQ on EF Pro Cycling’s exclusive YouTube channel.