The Tour of Britain Women has, by coincidence, bookended the toughest period of Kate Richardson's life. But finally, she's able to look back at the past year with something approaching closure.
Her life has gone full circle in the past twelve months, and when the Scot describes herself as hitting “rock bottom” during that time, she doesn’t just mean in a cycling sense.
Indeed, losing a few bike races would have been easy to cope with in comparison to the desperate place Richardson found herself in less than a year ago, with merely leaving the house feeling like an impossibility, never mind competing for victories on the global stage.
There is no overstating the depths to which Richardson fell last year, with her challenges feeling all the more significant given that she had been viewed as one of the brightest British prospects on two wheels.
Having begun her sporting life as a triathlete - she won multiple junior national titles - Richardson transitioned to cycling in 2021, quickly establishing herself as a forced to be reckoned with on both the road and the track by winning the Ras na mBan stage race as well as double gold at the under-23 European Track Cycling Championships in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Her maiden British titles came at the start of 2024, with Richardson utterly oblivious to the turbulence that was on its way.
As she finalised her preparations for last year’s Tour of Britain Women, at which Richardson had been touted as a rider to watch, her life changed in the blink of an eye.
While out on a training ride - indeed, it was her final training ride before the Tour of Britain began - Richardson was knocked off her bike by a vehicle.
The first she knew of the collision was the 4x4 hitting her from behind. The next thing she remembers is lying, badly hurt, on the road.
Richardson had suffered a fractured scapula and concussion but perhaps the greatest damage inflicted was by the driver of the vehicle, who disappeared before returning to the scene and proceeded to stand above Richardson, refusing to help and instead, hurled verbal abuse towards her as she lay on the roadside.
It’s an incident that would be enough to traumatise anyone, but even Richardson could not have predicted the knock-on impact that day would have on the months that followed.
“Lying on the ground being shouted at, all the while not knowing what kind of condition I was in or how seriously I was hurt, was the most traumatic thing of all for me,” the 22-year-old says of that fateful day last June.
“The effect that crash had on me and my life was just awful because I then slipped into a depression.
“We still don't know exactly what caused the depression - it might have been a delayed onset concussion, which can cause emotional side effects and symptoms.
“For months I couldn't sleep properly - I’d wake at 2am and stay awake for hours so I was constantly exhausted. I remember googling ‘elite athletes who’ve had mental health struggles’ because I wanted some reassurance that I would be okay. Because at that point, I really wasn't sure if I would be.
“I was in a very, very bad place mentally. I had no motivation to do anything and I couldn't find any joy in anything - and I don't mean just cycling, I mean life.
“I hated the sport of cycling but actually I hated everything. I was just surviving each day.
“It was hard because it was taking a massive toll on my family as well as on me because every single day I was sobbing uncontrollably and I could barely even get out of bed never mind get on a bike.”
As is so often the case with elite athletes, Richardson deduced the best way forward was to push through, despite the fact she was clearly not in any kind of mental state to do such a thing. It’s an attitude that gets elite athlete to the top of their sport, but it’s also one that can be seriously damaging when suffering from a mental breakdown in the way Richardson was.
She remembers, though, the exact moment when it finally dawned upon her that she couldn’t get better alone and needed some serious help, immediately.
“I was in denial for months about how I was feeling and I just ploughed on," the Glaswegian says.
“I thought that getting to a race would solve my issues. I don't know how but, late last year, I managed to get myself into good enough form to be selected for the European Track Championships. But when I was in Manchester preparing, I had a massive breakdown. I remember sitting in my Airbnb, on my own, and it all just came to a head.
“I hit rock bottom. I couldn't think how to clean my bike or make my lunch or do basic, day-to-day things.
“Life felt horrific and I wondered if I would ever be a cyclist again.
“Unfortunately it took me too long to realise I had to do something - I had thought if I just kept going it would be okay but it's not as simple as that. It took hitting rock bottom for me to realise I could not continue down this path and I knew that the most important thing was for me to feel like myself again.
“So I got put on medication and I started working intensively with my psychologist.”
Richardson’s progress was steady and, slowly but surely, she began to feel like she was getting back to her “old self”, with her sense of closure being heightened after the driver who crashed into her recently being convicted of the charges brought against him and being handed a suspended jail sentence, disqualified from driving and fined.
There was, however, a significant bump in the road in her recovery in March when she was forced to leave the road team she had signed for late last year, Hess Cycling, due to several alleged breaches of contract, including the team’s reported failure to pay its riders.
The disruption caused by Hess to Richardson’s season was fortunately, minimal, with the Scot almost immediately signing for Scottish set-up, Alba Road Team, with which she’s previously ridden.
Richardson re-joined Alba in March and, having recovered considerably from the bout of depression that plagued her for the second half of last year, she rediscovered the form that had seen her identified as one of GB’s brightest talents.
Last month, Richardson won the general classification at the Tour de Feminin, producing a hugely impressive ride and signalling that she is ready to make a significant impact at the Tour of Britain Women, which begins on Thursday.
Significantly, the race has two Scottish stages, with stage three snaking around the Scottish Borders before the fourth and final stage, which begins and ends in Glasgow.
The line-up is strong, with Lizzie Deignan, Anna Henderson and Lorena Wiebes all worth watching out for, but given Richardson is feeling as good as she has in quite some time both physically and mentally, it’s unsurprising she has lofty ambitions next week.
“As a team, Alba has a lot of targets which are not all about GC and I think we've got a great chance of being competitive,” she says.
“Personally, I see myself as a better stage racer than one day racer because I'm pretty good at backing up days so I would like to get a good result in GC.
“My form is good and I feel like I've got positive momentum, and the fact that the final stage is in Glasgow is such a motivator.”
Richardson becomes understandably moved when she reflects on what she’s been through and how difficult it’s been for her to reach this point at which she’s happy once again as both a person and a bike racer.
And given she doubted she could ever feel like this again, she feels somewhat overwhelmed when looking back on her past twelve months.
“I feel quite emotional talking about what I’ve been through and coming out the other side because at the start of this year, I could never have foreseen being in such a good place,” she says.
“This period of my life has been hellish so I can't believe I turned it around so quickly. I think I will cry of happiness every time I do something good now because I feel so proud that I've managed to get to this point.
“It actually gives me a lot of confidence, too, because in those difficult moments, you tell yourself that you're mentally weak because you're struggling but when you come out the other side, you realise how strong you actually are.
“The Tour of Britain next week will be an emotional few days, but it'll be good emotions I’ll be feeling now, not bad ones."
