Samara Sheppard on her Grand Prix debut, Olympic disappointments, and Cape Epic podium

New Zealand cyclist Samara Sheppard has found success in multiple disciplines, including cross country (she won a U23 World Cup in 2012 and is a multi-time New Zealand and Oceania champion), road (she nearly landed a contract with one of the most prominent WorldTour teams in 2019), and marathon (she’s placed 5th and 6th at the marathon world championships). This year, she’s taking on a new discipline — gravel. As one of the new riders in the Grand Prix, she wasted no time in showing that she is one to watch when she placed second at Sea Otter in April. 

Despite her many successes, however, Samara’s career has been full of near-misses. From seeing her long-held Olympic dreams dashed when the cross country spot was given to a reserve track racer to losing out on a road contract at the last hurdle, she has had to constantly find creative ways to pivot. Samara sat down with Payson in Durango this week to talk about chasing World Cup success by herself in Europe as a teenager, getting a Master’s Degree in Public Health when racing stopped in 2020, becoming the first athlete from Oceania to podium at the Cape Epic, and how the online riding platforms Zwift and MyWhoosh have provided some of the biggest opportunities of her career. She also talks about why she had everything riding on a top result at Sea Otter and why she chose not to race Unbound. 

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