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ISR 35 Final: Sou a Ana Caramelo e bem-vindos ao Inside Ride, o podcast de corridas do Maibus. Hello and welcome to Inside the Race, the My Whoosh Racing Podcast. This is the second of our rider takeovers for the 2026 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships. Our elite riders joining us to get a little bit of an insight about them, the semifinals, and the finals. We speak today to Hayden Pucker from the United States of America. Farm Watts himself is here, literally fresh from the farm. We also have the wonderful Anna Caramelo of Portugal. And we're aided in that interview by the one and only Gabby Guerra because Anna is speaking in Portuguese. So if you don't speak fluent Portuguese, maybe watch this show rather than listen to it. Don't forget subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcast to be notified whenever we go live with our rider takeovers bringing you two riders each and every Couple of days. It's literally coming that fast, all the way to the final, so make sure you stay with us for that. Let's dive into the interviews. Let's get to know a little bit better Hayden Pucker and Anna Caramello. So hello and welcome to Inside the Race, my Whoosh Racing podcast. And because we're in the run up to the 2026 UCI Sancton Esports World Championships, and our elite riders are now known. Those who have made it into the finals, we thought we'd talk to each and every one of our superstar riders. And today's superstar rider is no stranger to the show. Welcome back, the one and only Hayden Pucker. Happy to be here. Thank you guys for having me. Hayden, it is so good to have you here. It really, really is, and so good to have you at yet another World Championship final. But we'll unpick that in a little bit. To start with, are you okay to do what's becoming our traditional sixty seconds about you? Absolutely. Right, Matt, do you have your stopwatch ready? Yes. Today's stopwatch, I can give you the details, is a Windows based app called Clock. anyway. That's by the bye for those very sad people like me who like to know what programs people are using. Let's get ready to go. Okay, Hayden Pucker. You have sixty seconds to tell everybody what they may know, may not know, may want to know, and may never want to know about Hayden Pucker. If you're ready, your time starts in five, four, three, two, one, get. My name is Hayden Pucker. I go by Farm Watts. I have 18 chickens. My favorite one's Deliva. I have a cat named Pumpkin. Love him to death. my FTP is roughly 500 watts. Very well known for that. I'm doing an Instagram series right now. doing a video every day of trading for the 2026 UCI World Championships. I race SRC all the time. I'm wearing a work shirt right now. My favorite color is not orange though. It is black or blue, probably. I have a Challenger SRT Green car. I got that when I was sixteen. I weigh right now ninety-one kilograms. I'm 185 centimeters tall. You got fifteen seconds left, mate. Keep going. My first years of cycling, I rode thirty-five thousand miles. and I like specialize, favorite bike brand. Done. That's it. Bang on an hour. Finished in with time to spare. Sixty seconds. Sixty seconds. I tell you, it feels like an a I am so glad I don't have to do this ever again after d having done it on one of the early shows. It felt like an hour. It's like How'd you how'd you get it yeah. No, that was really good. I love I love the name of the chicken personally. That's my favourite fact. That's straight out there. Well sixty seconds done. Hayden, so much to to talk about f just from those sixty seconds about you. Never mind a bit about your favourite colours or the animals. It in terms of cycling let's go first of all into the the f the five hundred watts FTP. Now you gave us your stats for your your height and your weight. And that's the thing about FTP, isn't it? It it's so dependent. If you were a a little four foot, you know, one meter twenty high person, you you'd you'd never produce those watts, but you're not the smallest unit in the on the Peloton, are you? No, I'm I think I'm probably the largest. At least every year at Worlds I've been for sure. Buy a landslide. at least ten kilograms. I'm like a giant, so. There's nothing wrong with it's where all the power comes from, Hayden. Yeah. Yeah. there's other people wanting there to bulk up and put power and muscle weight on and you and and clearly you don't need to do that. But you have been diarying your training for the worlds on the social media, as you said. I've been watching those. I've been laughing my head off at some of them. I've been looking at it thinking this is just I love the fact that we've got this diary running in. I almost feel like you set a trend. What was why did you decide to put it onto social media? I've been I really enjoyed doing the Instagram videos last winter and I had more time to do them. But I always had the issue where I didn't really have an idea. Like for the whole videos, like I kinda like run into like, what do I do next? So then seeing my friend and coach now. Zach Nair do his road to four hundred and fifty watt FTP. That gave me the idea, well, I qualify for Worlds this year again, so this year I'll just document my training all the way up to it. People love to see it, know what I'm up to, and then hopefully it turns out well. And it's been fun so far. That session you did yesterday, the sprint session, there was some power going down and some high cadence sprints going on there. How are you how are you feeling about this year's format where sprinting is just, you know, the thing? If I can learn how to play the game better, because I'm very well known for not racing the most intelligently, you can ask Matt Smith on that. But if I can learn how to sprint and like get the timing right, I think I have a good shot. But I'm just not I've never been able to I guess nail the timing and get the draft perfect to come out in the front. But I have put a lot of work this year into my
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sprinting, but unfortunately in semifinals it didn't really work out the way I thought it would. But it is gonna be different, isn't it? Because in the finals there are the well, there aren't a hundred and twenty-four of you to start with. so maybe getting that timing right is a is a different thing. I think finals is gonna be a completely different race than semifinals, just because of the people. Like it's gonna be a I mean, it's a hundred percent different. Like it's not you can't even compare because that many people there cause the speed to be so high. I mean, race one, I think I scored at like the finish and then the third. And sitting in the draft, I was over five hundred watts the entire time. And it's like how do you sprint off threshold for twelve minutes? it's hard. So that's it was crazy, wasn't it? And it was it was r it seemed to be because there were so many. It seemed relentless where we were watching and and and those surge checkpoints coming quickly, you know, okay, they're random, but They can only be so random, otherwise you just run out of time to get them all in in the in the stage. So it was no sooner did you done one you were doing another. How aware of the point situation were you given that you were keeping a check? 'Cause you know, could it's not easy when you're in the race and you are literally, as you say, on your threshold. I was pretty aware. I was I knew where I was going in the after stage one, I Actually I was pretty happy with how I did stage one. I but I was in the top f I was fifteenth, I believe, and I was like, Okay, that's fine. Stage two is better for me. But stage two is when I was starting to panic because every time I would do a sprint and not get points, I could see myself I was going from fifteenth, eighteenth, fifteenth, eighteenth, and I was like getting more nervous each lap and it was r a very stressful situation. And it's like, do I go hilly route, flat route, what do I do? And it's like how much how much riding on the circuit had you done before? How much riding on the courses you've done before that. I did all my training, I believe, for two weeks on the World courses. So a lot. Yeah. But but but it's interesting, isn't it? Because riding on a course and racing on a course, particularly when the sprints come up and those types of things are two different things. That stage two, Hayden, you were fifteenth on both both stages. And you'd sort of go, I was fifteenth and fifteenth, I should be fifteenth. But but it didn't work out like that because obviously it's it's a points race. and you finished in 17th place overall. But but that's that second stage, you were the first two laps you went on that sprint route, then you switched and you went on the hill, and then you went on the sprint route again. But interestingly, it was the finish lines at the end of each lap where you picked up your points. Yes. If I could go back and redo it, I would have changed a lot of my tactics. Ooh. It's like so. I kept getting eleventh place a lot and it was very frustrating. I just could not seem like and it's hard because you're sprinting and you see a group of people and you don't really know where you are in the group. And then you go through and you're like, crap. But you just sprinted, so now it's like the finish line after a hill is like, How do you sprint again? So you almost have to fully sacrifice that sprint so you can possibly get away for that finish line. But when you're not in the top fifteen comfortably, that's a really hard call to make in the moment. Well, can I just say That that final lap where you went with the break and I think it was Vink who instigated it, but you you jumped on it and there were four of you away to that line. Actually instigated that break. Did you instigate it? You know, I really should watch things back. Well, you can tell us all about it then. But but but did you know that was the move you had to make? Yes. I knew that it was now and ever and I and after the third lap sprint, I was like, okay, this time I don't sprint. I go all in, try to win the last finish line and then hopefully make it. I was like, that's what have to do. And were you hoping to get people joining you or did you think this is gonna be a trademark from what's solo off the front? I was really hoping that no one would follow me. But then I saw Bjorn coming and I was like, darn. Cause I couldn't push over like five fifty on that last climb. I was so destroyed. It was so hard. And that that cumulative fatigue that builds up. It's we talk about them being short races, but it's so hard sprint after sprint after sprint after sprint. It g is there a is there a word that sums up how your legs felt at that point going into the the the last climb? You know, if you it what what were they like? There you go. The entire race. Fire. Yeah. Just pure lactic acid build up. Like just I mean after that race it was hard to walk. Like it was like I just I could not clear it out. Ouch. I'm just going out just thinking about it. It's like grim, isn't it? So for a longer race, those those short races are they're brutal. It's like it's like running a it'd be like doing a full out mile and then doing a fallout ten K. just and then in the middle of that you also have to sprint too, which just completely builds up the elastic acid in your legs. So it is really co I think that's a really interesting analogy actually, Hayden, to take to take the format out of cycling and to put it into running, for example. because it really does make you think about just the physical effort required, you know, to complete it. Because you think, you know what? What's that? That's probably a ten minute race and a twenty, twenty five minute race. it's only thirty-five minutes. But it's not really like that at all. No, it's not. It's like it it sounds easy on paper, but then you gotta think that's thirty five minutes of just pure hell. Where like in a pro road race or whatever You you're
sitting in for three hours at a time and then there's a couple of moments where you're it matters and it's really hard. But the rest is easy. And esports is just pure pain. it's all it is, just pain. So your first world champs in twenty twenty four, you finished fifth, which was a phenomenal run out. And then twenty twenty five, I know we had a chat, I don't know whether it was some illness or a little bit of overtraining or something, but it really took its toll on you. You weren't where you wanted to be for those finals. for that world championships in twenty twenty five. But you still finished in the top twenty, which is a phenomenal performance to be twentieth in the world when you're not feeling, at your peak. How are you feeling about Copenhagen? I'm feeling good. I think it being later in the year is I'm gonna do a lot, lot better. I have seemed to learn this thing about myself recently as I got into esports that I think I get some allergies or some issues every year in the fall that I never really paid attention to. before I did esports because I wasn't tracking my HR V and I wasn't worried about performance. I was just riding my bike. So it just seemed like the even this year, I did not over train. I was super rested. My my resting heart rate right now and everything is like it's higher than it should be. But it's slowly coming back down. And it seems like it peaks in October and then it kinda like like I get sick allergy thing and then it kinda I get better and then in December I'm like back to normal and feeling really good. Was that But that's really interesting, isn't it? Because I guess you've then got to look at that in terms of how you train as well and how that training runs in, and and we're gonna see that obviously online, into the world championships. Have you factored in that that seasonality into the training plan? Is that is that something that you now take into account more maybe than you did previously? Yes. This year, Zach has done a really, really good job of learning from our past mistakes and We have toned back the intensity, the volume, and it's very structured and and it's good. I'm in a I'm in a really good spot now. I'm very happy with it. You seem you seem to be enjoying it. That's that that's for sure. can I can I ask you when we got to the end before we move on to the the finals too much, when you got to the end of the semifinals, you were in a p place where you were looking at you were staring into the void. Really, weren't you? You would it this was not where you wanted to be. How did how did you feel at the end of the race when you saw the result? Defeated. I remember sitting on the on the ground by my bike, crying in tears. But I also had this hope that I had a feeling that I would still be there for some reason. So I I actually I applied for a wild card within twenty minutes of the race being over, the first thing I did. Hey, so I I didn't I didn't need anyways, but still like I was sad, but I was even more motivated, I'd say, to do better next year. And now that I got into the finals, I'm really motivated to prove myself because I I just had a rough like I'd say last year in cycling. And just to confirm to our listeners, you finished in seventeenth place. And because a number of riders, for a number of different reasons actually weren't able to take forward their position, it has come down and and you've been offered that slot. So I re is a really big congratulations and It's a tricky place to be, isn't it, when you're right on the cusp? Because the points were so close in that men's semi finals amongst the competitors. it really was close. Now, looking forward to Copenhagen Hayden, what would be a great race at Wolves for you this year? I don't wanna give away anything that I'm planning to do. No, don't do that. But I would love to be in the top ten again this year. And I would love to see USA on the podium or win. Okay. That's that that's that's a very concise answer. without giving anything away. I think that's that's that's really cool. That's really, really cool. is that especially after this year when USA won Roadworlds, it's really motivating for the US. Do you what I Emma will always accuse me of Parking back to road racing and b riding your bike outdoors and this is indoor road racing. But there is a crossover. we all ride bikes, we're all part of the the the UCI disciplines. is is that something that you've been aware of coming in? You know, is that something on your radar that that USA has got this road world, you know, it's taken that with with Brandon Minorti, taking away that that men's road win. And that this is, you know, it's been a long time coming. Is is that something that really does motivate? Well it does for sure. the USA is not a big cycling country at all. I I'm pretty sure everyone here hates cycling. So to see the USA win it, it it is it's cool. And it was done in in well, I have to say, it was done in such an amazing way. it was a class class ride. so there are two of you from the USA in the Psych and Esports World Champs. are you gonna be Are you two lone individuals, Hayden, or will there be some form of cooperation, teamwork, tactics chatting, or are you gonna run run at it on your on your own? All I'll say is think of stage one of 2024. I think this I think Emma and I have both speculated that there's a number of nations that have been taking lessons from previous world championships and the infamous, famous Stage one twenty twenty four is is one of those key learning points that people people will have taken away and looked at. And I think like you know, it I don't think it's giving anything away to say, you know, nations and riders will work together, but it can be it can be to to that mutual advantage of all the riders in that nation as well. So it'd be really interesting to see because definitely in the road worlds. USA even all those USA riders, even though they actually ride for different commercial teams,
all did amazing jobs for and were instrumental in that win of Brandon McNulty. So I think really interesting to see. BMX needs to learn some lessons, I think, at the minute. There they they they need a bit of pickup. Maybe they need to to get in touch with you guys. Let's go talk about riders on podiums though, because I want to ask you Instead of asking you who the favorite is or who you think's gonna win, what I would like to ask is who is your dark horse for a medal? Who is the not maybe the top rider or the favourite, but somebody maybe a little bit left field that's coming in that you think actually do you know what? People aren't thinking about them, but they could be a medalist. Who would you say? That's tough because the guy that I'm thinking of immediately, he's pretty well known, Niel. From Norway. I think he's for sure has a really, really good shot. And he's not been a medalist yet, but he did get fourth last year. Paul Steerski. He's not really a dark horse either, but like I think he will have a good year this year. Yeah, it's it's it's very difficult to nail down what is a dark horse and what's a medalist because it's so close in the racing, isn't it? It is. Yeah. Yeah, I I I I can't think of many dark horses just because I race the same guys all the time and they're all kinda really well known now. So I feel like it could be the way the format is, it could almost be anyone. Well if you get the tactics right and you have good legs that day, I'm it could be anyone. And that for me is what is gonna make it so exciting. Hayden, I cannot wait to watch you and everybody else on that stage. at those world championships in December. Thank you so much for joining us today. It was my pleasure. Thank you guys. So hello and welcome to Inside the Race. And with me today, two of the women who have qualified for the psyching esports world championships in December. because the lovely Gabby Guerra is joining me to give me a wonderful hand in terms of her language skills because we have with us Anna Caramello, the rider from Portugal, who has qualified. Welcome to the show, Anna and Gabby. Thank you. So then it's in the Anna. So Gabby, as you may have guessed, is going to use those wonderful language skills to have the conversation with Anna. And I'm here just to help feed those questions to Gabby today. so Gabby, we are gonna start with Anna by asking her for her one minute background about herself. Você consegue minuto falar tudo? And Emma, are you going to do the one minute do you have a timer? I do. Okay. So Anna, você está preparada? Sim, bora lá. Three? Okay. Two, one, go! Estou sou a Ana Caramelo, tenho 31 anos, sou de Portugal, entrei no Maiús na comunidade 2025, comecei no ciclismo 2023, estou muito entusiasmada por fazer parte desta comunidade e por estar aqui com vocês, e sou a primeira portuguesa campeã do ciclismo indoor e estou muito ansiosa que chego o dia 5 de dezembro para estar lá com os melhores do mundo. E acho que ainda nem acredito que o consegui. Também tenho trabalho, sou polícia Portugal. E então não é muito fácil conciliar as duas coisas. E então vamos lá ver o que é que eu sou capaz. E dar honrar também a nossa camisola. E é tudo. Ok. You have 10 seconds left if you want. Tá. Mas já falou de tudo. Ótimo. We know you as a cycling indoor racer, but you do race outdoors and you hold a number of national championship titles. The time trial especially. Nós sabemos que você compete no ciclismo virtual, mas que você também compete na estrada e tem vários títulos nacionais, principalmente sobre o contra-relógio. O que você pode nos contar sobre isso? Já tenho dois títulos de campeã de contra-relógio, também sou vencedora da taça de Portugal, claro que é sempre muito bom ser campeã no nosso país, mas melhor ainda era ir além fronteiras e conseguir uma equipa continental ou World Tour para conseguir darmos o salto, porque uma coisa é ser cá Portugal, outra coisa é estarmos fora do contexto, porque não tem nada a ver a realidade, é uma realidade completamente diferente. E se nós queremos ser melhores, temos que estar com as melhores e lutar com as melhores. Neste caso, por exemplo, a Gabi. It's your first time making the World Championship Finals for Cycling Esports. Are you excited to be in Copenhagen later this year? It vai ser a tua primeira vez na final do Campeonato Mundial de Cicismo Virtual. Antes de mais uma pessoa está sempre nervosa porque é a primeira final, porque vamos estar com as melhores do mundo, acho que se qualificaram e é sempre muito bom, acho que nem acredito, acho que só quando estiver no avião e aterrar Copenhaga é que vou acreditar, mas claro, é sempre muito bom, é sempre uma boa experiência que fica e que pode abrir portas para muita coisa. E há que aproveitar o momento e honrar também a camisola de Portugal. Well, you finished fifteenth overall in the semifinals. Let's talk a little bit about those races more. You were 11th at the end of stage one. Did you feel confident that you were gonna make the top 15 at that point, or were you a little worried? You finalized in the decima allocation, and the first two years we had, you finalized in the decima allocation. What was your sentiment before this episode? Was she confident that you qualify? Or was it in doing it? Why were your sentiments before this? I don't accredit. super grupo de apoio que estavam lá ao meu lado e estavam sempre a gritar e a dizer tu consegues, tu consegues, e acho que foi graças a isso, porque eu realmente não acreditava, e acho que foi graças a eles que eu consegui, coisa que eu não vou ter lá agora Copenhaga, portanto vamos ver como é que vai ser, mas foi mesmo graças a eles. O apoio que eles me deram, porque eu não sei onde é que fui arranjar tanta força para ainda conseguir terminar depois décima quinta, porque este ano também variou muito as etapas da semifinal, porque eram etapas muito explosivas, coisa que eu não aprecio muito e que não era muito favorável para mim, e
continuo sem acreditar, mas a verdade é que estou lá. On stage 2 you chose to take the sprint lap. Twice and then you took the climb twice. Was that a plan at the start or did that come about during the race? Durante a competição, como é que foi o seu planejamento nisso? Eu não planeei nada, eu tentei sempre ir a tudo aquilo que eu conseguia. A sorte foi também estar lá o Diogo do Cycling District, e nas duas primeiras pensávamos que iam mais para a parte de montanha porque havia mais pontos. Entretanto, eu disse, Olha, não, vamos para a montanha, que eu também gosto mais, e pode ser que tínhamos sorte e fizermos meio meio. Então, duas para lado, duas para o outro, and foi assim que foi mo foi planeado, foi foi na hora. So how do you feel about being on stage in Copenhagen with the other women in that final as opposed to being at home or at Cycle District in the Pain Cave? Do you think it will will give you More enthusiasm or will it be a difficult place to be? A question of Copenhagen start ao vivo junto com todas as outras mulheres competindo no palco. Só quando lá estiver, mas acredito que seja uma sensação de acho que é uma sensação única para a primeira vez que eu vou. O facto de estarmos lá às 15h presencial num só espaço torna o ambiente, acaba de ser por ser mais real no mundo virtual e é sempre diferente. Portanto, eu acho que vai ser uma final bem disputada e que Todas unidas lá e no mesmo espaço, o que acaba também por ser bocado nervoso. E isso também pode atrapalhar pouco as coisas. Mas pronto, vamos ver. So, Anna, what would be a great race for Ana Caramello at the World Championships? Ina, qual seria o cenário ótimo para você nessa final, nessas duas etapas finais? Do campeonato mundial. Qual seria cenário para ti excelente que você pode imaginar? Só estar numa final já é muito bom. O scenário ideal era fazer o top 5, não? Acho que já era muito bom para este ano, mas também vou trabalhar para isso e ambicionar mais para o ano para estar no top 3, e disputar entre a Kate, a Gabi e a Tomasi. Tentar estar lá com elas já é muito bom. And is is training going well, and are you now focused a hundred percent on that final in your training? Está sendo bem específico? Como é que você está se preparando? Está a ser mais ou menos pouco mais específico para a final, porque também já não tenho mais provas este ano. E pouco só específico, mas nada por aí além. Eu acho que é mesmo também dia que uma pessoa vai e tu podes treinar imenso, mas chegar àquele dia e tudo aquilo que tu planeaste nem te ocorre e nem te sempre corre bem, e portanto há que manter a fé e que vai correr tudo bem, e seja o que for. So Anna, I have one last question for you. Thank you so much for joining us today. For you in that women's race, who would you say is the dark horse for a medal? The rider who may be unexpected, but you think could make a medalist at the Championships? Well, a última pergunta para ti, anda for. I would serve sincere because quem me conhece sincera. I ask not haverá surpresas because a Kate está num nível muito alto e acho que não há. Nenhuma surpresa que possa ter nesta final. Acho que neste momento a Kate realmente é sempre aquela favorita, desculpa Gabi, mas acho que a Kate realmente está num nível superior e acho que não há nenhuma que neste momento lhe faça frente. Bom, thank you so much for joining-noste, Ana. It has been absolutely brilliant to have you on the show. Muito obrigada mais uma vez por participar aqui. No podcast, Ana, foi muito bom ter você no nosso.