From California to Canberra: Felice Beitzel's rollercoaster year as a soigneur and sprinter

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For seasoned globetrotters such as Canberra Cycling Club's Felice Beitzel, 2020 was a rude shock to the system.

A veteran soigneur in the professional cycling paddock, Beitzel bookended a crazy 12 months of ups and downs positively by winning her first national-level medals at the 2020 AusCycling Track National Championships.

However, the whirlwind nine-month adventure which preceded her success at Brisbane's Anna Meares Velodrome made Felice's performance in Brisbane a little extra sweeter.

As an employee at Trek Factory Racing and USA Cycling, Beitzel's original plans for 2020 were set to revolve around the Tokyo Olympics in a working capacity.

Despite the congested schedule of events and work, Beitzel said she had managed to squeeze into her plans competing at the pre-COVID scheduled Track National Championships in March last year.

Felice Beitzel pins a number on Trek Factory Racing's Anton Cooper
Felice Beitzel pins a number on Trek Factory Racing's Anton Cooper. Picture: Supplied

"My plans for the year went downhill very quickly around March," she said.

"I was originally stuck in California and stayed there while training for a bit.

"In July, I went over to Europe for work and I trained a little more, all on my road bike by the way, up until the UCI XCO World Championships in Leogang.

"I tried to get my act together after that for Track Nats by training where and whenever I could."

Beitzel eventually found herself in the Netherlands waiting for a ticket home to Australia.

Felice Beitzel
Felice Beitzel working as a soigneur. Picture: Supplied 

"I was lucky to get a ticket home," she said.

"And although it wasn't the smoothest transition after training in a Dutch winter and then a hotel quarantine room, I made it work."

The flustered lead-up to the Track National Championships was never used as an excuse for Beitzel, who managed to set a 500m personal best en route to a 4th in the Elite Women's 500m.

After a less than ideal Elite Women's Sprint performance, Beitzel said she "screwed her head back on" in time for the Elite Women's Keirin Final.

"I had some confidence and went for it and it paid off," she said.

"It was one of the fastest keirins I've ever done - it was awesome.

It was also great to get together with Lily (Stratford) and Claudia (Marcks) and form up an ACT Sprint team.

"It was a really great way to finish the week and to see the younger girls having a go at the Elite Women's level was awesome."

Felice Beitzel at the 2020 AusCycling Track National Championships
Felice Beitzel at the 2020 AusCycling Track National Championships. Picture: Element Photo/Video

Beitzel is now firmly focused on a strong showing at the 2021 AusCycling Track National Championships in March while training in Canberra at the Narrabundah Velodrome.

"I love being back in the sunshine," she said.

"It's a unique opportunity to hopefully keep the form going for March.

"Then in April I'll go back to work with Tokyo 2021 back on the mind."

Keep up to date with all 2021 AusCycling Track National Championships information here.

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