Flèche Wallonne winner highlights dark side of cycling: "The lows of cycling are way, way worse than the highs of winning"

It was Stephen Williams who managed to come out on top of the Mur de Huy in apocalyptic conditions in April 2024. The Welshman won several more times later that year, but we hardly saw him racing this year. Long-term injuries kept him on the sidelines almost the entire season and he has thus seen the dark side of the sport.

After a few years at Bahrain, Williams joined Israel-Premier Tech in 2023. He had not won much in his career, but with his new team things really started to take off. Thanks to a stage win, he also won the overall classification of the Tour of Norway in his debut year, before making a big step in 2024.

Stage and overall victory at the Tour Down Under early last year already had proved that Williams had been anything but relaxing over the winter, and so in April came that monster win in the Flèche Wallonne (remember that freezing cold edition where only 44 riders managed to finish?). After his victory in the Tour of Britain, in the fall of 2024, however, we didn't see him at the front again.

That was due to a solid pain in the knee, which suddenly flared up after returning from Australia early this year. "Everything was normal. A couple of days later, I woke up and had this sharp pain on the top of my patella. Nine months later, I’m still in this battle," the Welshman told Cycling Weekly.

A two-month break followed, during which there was no racing. It would not prove enough, as the pain persisted. "It’s one of those injuries that’s going to be seen in smaller steps rather than big changes over a few days." Eschborn-Frankfurt was the last race Williams rode on May 1, with a DNF as the typical result.

It is extra harsh for the NSN rider, because in his early years at Bahrain he also had to deal with a lingering injury. "I never thought I’d go through something similar again. It’s safe to say this one has been twice as hard," Williams indicated the difference from then.

And where, on the contrary, you might think that the highlights would only increase the motivation to return, for the Welshman it is actually the other way around. "It was a great year in so many ways," he looks back on 2024. "One thing I will say is the lows of cycling are way, way worse than the highs of winning."

Williams explains. "It doesn’t come close. Winning is the greatest thing, it’s beautiful. But when you’re injured, off the bike, it’s absolutely devastating. Frustration is the key word. Any injury is hard to deal with for an athlete, but the hardest one is soft tissue, ligament, tendon issues - and I’ve had two."

These are also exactly those injuries that are difficult to treat. "Even in the medical world, millions and millions is thrown into the study and knowledge of tendons, and they’re still really unsure how they work and respond," says Williams, who underwent surgery in September and lost a lot of muscle mass as a result.

That should be added back in now, although the veteran can only cycle for half an hour on the hometrainer. "I miss riding on the road, with the boys and being in a normal training cycle." Fortunately for him, his team remains behind him, so Williams speaks of "incredible" support.

On further goals, Williams does not think much more. "Right now, I don’t care if I’m flying on the bike, I just want to be pain free and healthy. I have a lot of motivation to come back, I’m fighting and working hard. Fingers crossed everything will fall into line soon. When my first knee injury happened six years ago, I thought my career was done – and it wasn’t. The body can do some extraordinary things."