Lauretta Hanson may not be a rider that draws widespread attention even though she is among the best in her domain, repeatedly having her tenure with one of the top women’s team’s, Lidl-Trek extended due to her ability to help the team add to its results tally. The wins she has worked toward with such success may not have, so far, been her own but after starting the season with clear signs of growing strength it looks like the valued domestique could be heading toward a new phase in her career.
Not that there will be any wholesale change for the 29-year-old Australian who is quick to emphasise that “getting the best results for Lidl-Trek is the priority of the season” but perhaps she could, at times, emerge as the rider who is chasing them.
"As a domestique I love helping my teammates to achieve the best results possible, and I really feel rewarded and recognised within Lidl-Trek,” Hanson told Cyclingnews as she discussed the year ahead while starting the season in Australia. “But I guess there's still that little bit of a hunger in there to get my own results as well and it's also about having the confidence and belief in yourself to take those chances.”
The season so far, has surely helped give her that, with the rider from regional Victoria having already signaled her growing strength as a potential contender. She started her season with a second place in the road race at the Australian National Championships – a race her mother Heather won in 1981 – and added another podium place at the Geelong Classic criterium before heading to Europe and then picking up an eighth at Omloop van het Hageland.
The Classics period, which recently got underway with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, is certainly an area where Hanson’s strength and speed at the end of a long, hard and selective race are a distinct advantage. It is, unsurprisingly, a part of the year that the rider has pinpointed.
“In terms of goals for the season, I want to be the best support I can be through the Classics and, take my chances as well if they come,” said Hanson.
It's not that Lidl-Trek are short on potential winners, with riders like Elisa Longo Borghini, Lizzie Deignan, Gaia Realini, Shirin van Anrooij, Elisa Balsamo and Ellen van Dijk among Hanson's teammates. If anything, they are light on dedicated domestiques, although no rider appears to consider themselves above slipping into a support role. So it is a clear sign of the respect for the continued growth of the rider in her sixth year with the squad that the door is open for Hanson to evolve.
“Lauretta is someone who we can count on to do the hard work for our team leaders when it is needed, and I believe there is still a lot more to come from her here,” said Sports Director Ina-Yoko Teutenberg when the news of her two-year contract extension through till the end of 2025 was released.
The next phase
As Hanson continues into her ninth year of a career that she initially thought might be a short-term adventure but with the increasing professionalisation of the sport has morphed into something far, the drive to throw her hands in the air in celebration of victory is another element to help keep the motivation fresh.
“I guess my career objectives are that I would just love to win a race,” said Hanson, who as usual presented a relaxed and friendly demeanour off the road at her home races but also a steely determination on them.
“I know I'm a good teammate, I know I can help my teammates to win races, so the next challenge and what motivates me is like, ‘OK, I would like to take a chance to win a race for myself as well’.”
That desire too, appears to be combining with a step up in the form to help make it happen.
Hanson hasn’t exactly had the easiest run through recent season. Her Classics season came to an early end last year at Danilith Nokere Koerse, with a crash that ended with multiple rib fractures, a fracture of the left collarbone and there was also an impact on her spine that delivered a fracture of the left transverse process of T1.
Her off-season was also interrupted by surgery in both 2021 and 2022 to reduce the labia majora and labia minora as she tackled the swelling and saddle pain. The end of 2019 and first half of 2020 were also interrupted by a long recovery from concussion.
This year, however, Hanson is facing the year with a strong run through the latter part of 2023, once recovered from that Danilith Nokere Koerse crash, and also has ironed out some other issues that may have been holding her back.
“I’ve really, I don't know, kind of hit my stride,” said Hanson. “Whether that's maybe being more comfortable on the bike that makes a big difference there as well – my body was constantly fighting pain and fighting inflammation and things like that.
"I’ve made some other changes as well. I found out that I have endometriosis too and with that, I made some changes to my diet … and I found they really helped me as well.
“I think that there's just been those little things that have helped me kind of learn a bit more about my body, become a more efficient and better athlete. And with the support from Lidl-Trek as well, I've really been able to build on my strengths and develop into a stronger rider.”
As a result, Lidl-Trek may soon have one more winning card among a team packed with them.
“I kind of feel like I'm in that transition phase of being a domestique, to being a domestique that can also win races,” said Hanson. “That's I guess the next phase, the athlete that I'd like to become.”
