At thirty years old, former Belgian speed skater Sandrine Tas is rewriting the rules of switching from one sport to another. Two victories at the Bretagne Ladies Tour and a second-place finish in the general classification, with just four weeks of cycling training under her belt. Three months ago, Sandrine had narrowly missed the Olympic podium in the 5,000 meters speed skating event at the Milan-Rho Fair. Today the Belgian athlete is the most surprising revelation in international women's cycling. The thirty-year-old from Lotto Intermarchè achieved in a short time a result that surprised everyone, including herself. "I think many people didn't even know my name when I showed up at the start - Tas explains - I had never done a stage race before. I had absolutely no idea how my body would react.

The difference between the two disciplines is abyssal. In inline speed skating, her "first career", Sandrine Tas was used to intense weeks made of brief, explosive efforts. Here instead we're talking about three, four hours in the saddle every day. "You don't go to Brittany with the idea of winning two stages and finishing second overall. I wasn't even a team leader. My job was: survive as best I could and try to participate in the sprint if we reached a sprint. Let's just say I surprised myself a bit too".

Specific preparation? Practically non-existent. Until mid-March she was a full-time skater, with all her energy focused on the Winter Olympic Games. After the Allround World Championships in early March, a week of rest. Then her professional debut at the Flèche Wallonne on April 22, finishing in fifty-seventh place: "In fact, I had no more than four weeks of specific cycling training this winter".

The missed podium at the Games was not the engine of the turnaround. The decision had been brewing for a long time, fueled by small signals and moments of awareness. "The desire had been there for a few years already. Even then I always raced five to ten times in summer, when skating was on break. Minor races, at club level. Every time I realized how much I enjoyed it".

The revelation came at the national championships in Binche last year. Tas was the first to reach the top of the final climb. The eighth-place finish, conditioned by a tactical ambush, left her with one certainty: she could compete at that level. But there's another moment, more intimate, that weighed on the scales. "My grandfather died last June, he had such a great love for cycling. I had just won my first race and went to bring him flowers in the hospital. It was the last time I saw him". That visit made her reconsider her priorities and so last August there was a phone call to Grace Verbeke, team manager of Lotto-Intermarchè: "Maybe I should have followed my heart in sport too? And I asked Grace if I could become a professional".

The question about age comes up often in interviews, but Sandrine Tas approaches it with pragmatism. "I'm 30 years old, a rather advanced age to try something new. Yet I'm surprised how often I get asked this question. Kopecky is my age. Vollering is 29. Wout Van Aert is 31. As if at that age you're already in decline? No, I certainly don't feel too old to do it. On the contrary, I'm having fun".

The transition to professionalism brought daily discoveries. At the Flèche Wallonne she suddenly found herself alongside Vollering and Niewiadoma. "Incredible. It was all new to me. I literally had to ask what I should do". And then the comparison between the two disciplines, merciless on a logistical level: "In speed skating, first you have to set up your tent with a few poles and change underneath it. On a cycling team bus you have your spot, everything is perfectly organized".

Tas approaches this new life with an open mind and ready to experience moments where unknowns outnumber certainties: "I still have to discover everything. Even what kind of cyclist I am. I don't know yet. If this sport doesn't work out for me, I'll keep cycling anyway. I like it too much. A bit like my grandfather. He was 85 years old and still pedaling along the canal. It will be the same for me".