The Cinderella story of Michael Vink - The 31-year-old rider joining cycling's World Tour after Esports and amateur career: 'You've got to love what you do'
After spending more than 10 seasons as an amateur, the New Zealander was given a one-year domestique contract by UAE Team Emirates after being spotted on an online training platform: "If you love what you do and you keep trying, you keep pushing, then eventually the right things will happen,” he told Olympics.com.
Cycling Road
Imagine spending most of your road cycling career trying to turn professional, working part-time jobs and self-coaching to pursue your dream. Then, when you're in your thirties and your hopes seem dashed, you suddenly receive a call from one of the best teams in the world offering you a contract.
This is the real-life Cinderella story of 2012 New Zealand road champion, Michael Vink, who joined UAE Team Emirates for the 2023 season.
The cycling powerhouse, led by two-time Tour de France winner - and Olympic medallist - Tadej Pogacar, is currently ranked second in the World Tour, the sport’s elite tier.
“I refused to believe it at first,” said 31-year-old Kiwi rider Vink in a video call from his European base in Girona, Spain.
“The whole lead-up to the contract was such a whirlwind. I never really got a chance to think about how I actually felt about things and I was sort of trying to be so emotionally controlled because I've tried for so long to get to that position.”
Vink's journey to the top hasn’t been conventional, but it shows that it’s never too late to believe in your dreams.
“I feel like I've sort of lived that cycling life 100% for the last ten years. And I feel like I've always been at that level of the World tour, but I just never made it,” he explained.
“I’ve always done it because I love the sport and I think that's what's kept me going so long into my thirties, even as an amateur. And it also goes to show that if you love what you do and you keep trying, you keep pushing, then eventually the right things will happen.”
Michael Vink: ‘I’m not a guy that wins a lot of races’
Vink hails from Christchurch, a city on New Zealand’s North island known for its vibrant cycling community.
He first took up biking as a hobby, but when he was forced to choose a compulsory sport in school, he picked cycling - and quickly discovered he had a talent for it.
"From the first race, it turned out I was quite good," he recalls.
Before long, Vink was jetting off to Europe to compete at just 17 or 18 years old. In 2010, he joined his first continental team, and two years later, he made a name for himself by clinching the road race national title, followed by the 2013 Memorial Van Coningsloo in Belgium - a highly-coveted amateur race.
But when Vink was ready to turn pro, he faced a roadblock. Several professional men's teams had folded, and he was now up against around 200 riders for a job.
“I’ve certainly had some bad luck in my career,” he lamented.
“I'm not a guy that wins a lot of races. I'm a guy that does lots of work for a team, which has been why it was hard for me to sort of get into a professional thing.”
Michael Vink: Driven by a love for cycling
Although Vink couldn't make a living solely from his passion for cycling, he explains why he has dedicated his life to a sport that is overshadowed in popularity by rugby and cricket in his own country:
“I like road racing because I like riding my bike. I never started because I wanted to win the Tour de France or Paris Roubaix or any of these races.”
He then continued: “I'm not the sort of guy that does it purely for the competitive aspect of it. For me, I just enjoy the atmosphere, I enjoy the lifestyle, I enjoy fresh air, the fitness, the technical side of it, everything all together is a big part of it for me.”
His unwavering love for the sport led him to work in bike shops to support his amateur career.
“I had a small workshop at home as well, and I was doing bike fits and mechanical stuff. And I worked at a wholesale company as well selling some bikes,” said the 1.90m-tall rider.
“I feel like I had too much experience with cycling particularly in New Zealand to just do something completely different. It's really nice to be able to get back and actually help people with my knowledge of cycling.”
Michael Vink: Embracing my role as 'domestique'
His altruistic nature is one of the reasons why Vink embraces his role as a domestique within his new team.
In cycling, a domestique, or gregario, supports their leader in various ways, from setting the pace and offering protection from headwinds, to dropping back to collect food and water.
“I like helping people, I like seeing others succeed. I've always been that way and I'm always the first one to put my hand up if I think someone needs help, and that's how I like to ride.
“It's just about everyday doing 100% for your leader. And that's why I started racing. It was never about the results. I always just do it every day giving 100% and I think that's what attracts me to that role.”
Even someone who hasn’t had a stellar career can be a key player for a cycling team:
“I think I've been part of many teams in my career either successful ones and probably less successful ones. And I think I understand pretty well what the whole package of cycling is,” he said, adding how important it is to have a calm and level-headed figure for the younger riders.
“I think me with my experience, I know what's worth focusing on, what's worth worrying about and what's not worth worrying about.”
Michael Vink: Esports can be a springboard for ‘real’ racing
Vink’s potential was spotted by UAE Team Emirates thanks to the online training platform MyWhoosh, which they are affiliated with.
“I think if you can do the numbers and if you've got that physical ability, it doesn't lie. If you can do x many watts for x many minutes, that's the hardest thing for a team to get out of an athlete,” the New Zealander said.
“Everything else can be coached and sort of taught and learned over time. But that physical ability is something that's super, super hard to find.”
Virtual cycling platforms have been successful over the last few years, with cycling included as part of the Olympic Esports Series 2023. The at-home hardware and software apps have helped teams to monitor thousands of riders at very little cost.
Vink’s team-mate Jay Vine received his first professional contract with Alpecin-Fenix in similar circumstances, also winning the UCI Esports World Championship in 2022 on the Zwift virtual platform. This year in the colours of UAE Team Emirates the Australian won the Tour Down Under, the first World Tour road cycling stage race, following his two stage wins at last year’s Vuelta.
“It's nice to know that it can be done and he’s someone to look up to and a path for me to follow,” Vink added.
Michael Vink: This is just the beginning
Vink admits that racing in the pro peloton is not that bad compared to his time as an amateur.
“If anything, a lot of things are a lot easier rather than harder,” he confessed.
“For me, it was never really the racing that was the hard part. It was always, you know, financially supporting myself and moving around and all the things around cycling as an amateur, that's really hard.
“It's nice being supported with this team around equipment and then obviously getting a wage as well and living arrangements and things, and it's definitely a more comfortable life, which means I can focus on the training a lot more.
The Kiwi rider explained that he didn’t want to celebrate too much about the new contract because he feels that this is not the end but the beginning of a new journey. And he wants to enjoy it as much as he can.
“I want to ride my bike as long as I can, whatever that means and whatever capacity,” he said, adding that this is the life he envisions for himself for the next five years at least.
A Grand Tour experience, maybe starting with the Vuelta, is in his plans, but first, “I still have a job to do,” he admitted.
“In the meantime it's day by day and see what I can do, not putting any too high expectations on things, remembering where I come from. But also it's not a gift, I still have to perform, it doesn't matter what my history is. This is the best team in the world, and we need the best guys. So I'm focusing on on that.”
Vink hopes his story can help other riders who had a similar path and this is his advice:
"Just follow your passion. You know, if you love what you do and you keep at it, eventually I think things will fall into place at the end of day," he said.
"You've got to love what you do. There's no point otherwise. It's certainly been tough years: I've been in some pretty small apartments and strange places of the world. And definitely, I had to battle a bit financially. But I've really loved what I've done the last ten years and I still absolutely love it."