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Kristen Faulkner is so<\/em> back<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n The U.S. and double Olympic champion will race with her EF Education-Oatly team for the first time in 7 months at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday.<\/p>\n After a 2025 that guttered with burnout and was snuffed out on the pavement of the Tour de France Femmes, the 33-year-old believes this could be her best year yet.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the Olympics [in 2024] everything was so busy, \u00a0and I didn\u2019t take a proper offseason. I was doing a lot of speaking and media events. The adrenaline was high. I was traveling a lot,\u201d Faulkner said Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I went into 2025 a bit burnt out before the season even started. It was my worst year of racing in Europe,\u201d she said in a team note. \u201cIt\u2019s the only year I didn\u2019t win a race.\u201d<\/p>\n It seems that a long layoff recovering from a torn labrum might have been a blessing in disguise for \u201cArctic Faulks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis offseason was the break that I needed all along,\u201d she said. \u201cWith the shoulder surgery and having to take time off, at first I was pretty devastated. But I feel super rejuvenated now.\u201d<\/p>\n SF \u279d LA over 4 days. <\/p>\n A whole lot of gravel. Quality time with old friends and new ones. No structured training. Just an adventure. pic.twitter.com\/KjIQAxvjek<\/p>\n \u2014 Kristen Faulkner (@FaulknerKristen) January 24, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n So what does a pro cyclist and computer science graduate do when they\u2019ve got time to burn?<\/p>\n Ride bikes and build gadgets, of course.<\/p>\n After suffering an initial month of rehab immobilized in a sling or stuck on the trainer, Faulkner spent the winter riding the coast roads of California and designing apps with AI.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u00a0was productive and mentally refreshing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Faulkner raced on the roads for the first time since July last month at the Pan-American Championships. Her time trial victory proves that maybe a \u201chappy rider is a strong rider,\u201d after all.<\/p>\n Faulkner\u2019s WorldTour comeback at De Ronde on Sunday marks a crucial step in her long road to the Olympic Games in L.A. 2028. <\/p>\n The Alaskan will ride her third Flanders this weekend as superdomestique for on-form Swiss teammate Noemi R\u00fcegg.<\/p>\n After a GC victory at the Tour Down Under and a string of top-10s in the classics, R\u00fcegg will start in Oudenaarde close behind the usual bigs \u2013 Lotte Kopecky, Demi Vollering, and Lorena Wiebes.<\/p>\n Faulkner\u2019s personal ambitions begin after the cobblestone dirt has settled.<\/p>\n She\u2019s got the hilly Ardennes classics circled in her calendar, dreams of a maillot jaune<\/em> in France, and designs on a rainbow jersey in Montr\u00e9al at road worlds.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to win a stage at the Tour de France,\u201d Faulkner said Thursday. \u201cMy goal over the next two years is to wear the yellow jersey at some point. I\u2019d also like to win more time trials, and get on the podium at worlds in the TT.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Olympics [in Paris] had been my goal for so many years, so in 2025 I think I was a little lost,\u201d she added. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what I was working toward. So to be able to feel like now I can focus again on the time trial is really motivating.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/faulkner-returns-tour-flanders\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2167251616.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated April 2, 2026 08:33AM Kristen Faulkner is so back. The U.S. and double Olympic champion will race with her EF Education-Oatly team for the first time in 7 months at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday. After a 2025 that guttered with burnout and was snuffed out on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1862248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1862248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1862248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1862248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1862248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Faulkner chasing a three-peak season: Ardennes, Tour de France, Montr\u00e9al<\/h2>\n
![\"Faulkner\"](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/filters-quality75-8-1200x750.jpeg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")