Life Outside Cycling: Claire Steels - From fitness business to WorldTour and back again

Claire Steels, a rider for the Movistar Team, stands out in the cycling world not only for her late start in the sport but also for her successful transition into professional cycling. Before joining the pro peloton, Claire ran her own business in the fitness industry, highlighting her entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to health and wellness. 

Despite the demands of elite competition, she maintains her strong connection to the fitness community through ongoing side projects. Through her online platforms, such as Steels Fitness and Meals with Steels, she offers coaching, nutritional guidance, and tailored meal inspiration, encouraging others to thrive on their journeys while balancing her career at the sport’s highest level.

Claire’s philosophy is to “reward the effort rather than results,” underlining her focus, resilience, and hard work across every aspect of her life. As the landscape of women’s cycling continues to grow, Claire’s story stands out for her ability to redefine what it means to thrive in sport while paving the way for others to follow.

Claire Steels, who has raced for the Movistar Team since 2024, represents a unique and inspiring journey in women’s professional cycling. With the awareness that an athletic career cannot last forever, she blends her remarkable passion for cycling, fitness, and nutrition into her broader life vision. Starting with her first bike at 28, Claire’s late entry into cycling and exponential growth into the pro ranks is nothing short of astonishing. 

"I came into cycling very late, I only did my first race at 30 years old. After returning to my hometown following an abusive relationship, I wasn’t in a good place and needed to rebuild myself and my business. I met a friend while running, we were doing cross-country races, and after that, we decided to start training together. At that point, I wasn’t ready to go back to work. Running a business alone requires a lot of confidence, and I was just not there yet. My friend was participating in triathlons, so I decided to give it a try. It seemed fun, why not? Then I realised I couldn’t swim, so a duathlon seemed the best option. That’s when I went to buy my first bike at 28 years old."

After mistakenly buying a bike with a medium frame when she needed an extra small (she realised that after), Claire went on with her journey into duathlons as a way to rebuild herself after significant setbacks. She often says the bike gave her a reason to get out of bed, helping her escape a period of self-destruction. Cycling offered the routine and stability she desperately needed. Driven by newfound purpose, Claire travelled to compete in places like Canada and Australia. Racing for a French duathlon team, she realised that she needed to improve her bunch riding skills, so she started entering criterium races, where podium finishes soon followed. The experience ignited a genuine passion: she discovered how much she enjoyed riding: “It's freedom. I was improving daily. I was motivated.”, she says, about riding her bike, capturing how cycling became both her anchor and her inspiration.

“After the crits, I started training more and realised how much I enjoy riding. I was working again, this time at a gym. I would put my bike in the car, work in the morning with clients starting at 6:30, and try to schedule a 45-minute break to train on my bike. Then I would come back to the gym and work until 10 p.m., and then go home, almost every single day. It gave me a purpose. 

"I never imagined I would become a professional cyclist for one of the biggest teams in the world [referring to Movistar]. I started in the professional peloton in 2020 with Sopela Women's Team (CTW). Three years later, I’m still riding while managing my business. When I was 35 years old, I had to consider whether to stop riding or continue. I decided to keep going and secured a contract with Israel in my first year as a professional. Last year, in 2024, I signed a three-year contract with Movistar."

Claire describes herself as very passionate and driven in everything she does. She’s a bit outspoken and, she reckons, opinionated on some topics. "I’m a very chatty rider in the bunch, a little bit sarcastic as well," she says. "As a rider, I consider myself very aggressive. I like to go on breakaways, and I love the mountains. You’ll often find me helping our leader and working for the team. 

"I think the reason and the way I started cycling have shaped me a lot. When it comes to cycling as a job, sometimes things don’t go well - bad training days, crashes, injuries - and it doesn't work out as you hoped. Still, cycling brings me a lot of joy regardless of everything. Even when I get on the bike exhausted, I still think this is the best job in the world."

Claire admits that her personal life is deeply connected to her professional one. She tries to live a normal life, but often struggles with embracing the “less is more” mentality. On rest days, she admits she tends to catch up on other tasks, meetings, and house chores, rather than truly resting. 

“I’ve always been involved in fitness. Since I was 24, I’ve run my own business in the fitness industry (on and off), teaching and helping people develop. It’s something I’m very passionate about. I have a love-hate relationship with fitness: At the beginning of social media, many fitness professionals took advantage of people, and it created a very toxic environment. It’s getting better now, but I’ve always tried to work against that. I try to help people make informed decisions and also to encourage independent training. "My focus isn’t necessarily on training athletes, but rather on working with people to improve their quality of life, including helping older adults maintain their mobility."

She defines herself as a big foodie, saying, “Nutrition fits in as well: I’m obsessed with food. I spend a lot of time thinking about it. In recent years, I’ve enjoyed exploring the scientific side of nutrition.”

After her crash in the UAE race, where she broke her back, Claire became much more aware of the lack of proper nutrition information available to athletes. During her recovery, she spent a lot of time at home, feeling isolated. To cope, she experimented with new recipes, flavours, and textures in her meals. However, when she turned to social media for inspiration, she was frustrated to find that most content focused on high-protein, low-carb diets that weren’t suited to the unique nutritional needs of athletes like herself. This realisation highlighted the gap in accessible, athlete-focused nutrition guidance online.

“Developing relevant recipes for athletes is my goal. The long-term view is to bring the nutrition part to my fitness business. I’m not going to be riding my bike competitively for much longer now. I’m 39 this year, so I need to think about life after cycling and trying to gather all together: nutrition, food, fitness, and applying everything in one place, maybe a manual or protocol, to guide and help athletes. Giving everybody in sport the opportunity, not only the WorldTour riders, who have access to the best professionals. Making it available to younger riders and women athletes. 

“I’m very aware of the evolution of women’s cycling, and we have a lot of younger riders coming to the sport. Their physiology and nutritional needs are different from older riders. This variation is more pronounced in women than in men’s cycling, and concerning these variations in women’s bodies, I consider we are not there yet. We need to work on this and give them support.”

A key element that sets Claire Steels apart is her recognition, since turning pro, of the real challenges professional athletes face in finding tailored nutrition plans and practical, high-performance recipes. Drawing from her own experiences navigating the complexity of elite sport, Claire is dedicated to bridging this gap. Through her commitment, she develops accessible, effective nutrition resources specifically for athletes, ensuring that the fuelling needs of professionals are met in ways that are both time-efficient and genuinely nutritious. 

Balancing racing and other projects, Claire still finds time for the people and activities she loves. She knows how important it is to occasionally step away from the intensity of cycling, whether that means catching up with friends or enjoying her favourite hobbies. For Claire, making space for these “normal” moments is an essential part of staying happy in a fast-paced life.

“For me, it’s manageable because I’m very fortunate with my group of friends. They are very understanding and empathetic. If I cancel plans, they don’t give me a hard time about it, and they are very flexible and supportive, especially friends outside of cycling. Here in Mallorca, I don’t have a lot of female friends in cycling, they are mostly from outside. From my group of friends from my hometown, we do a “Wednesday waffle” where we call and update each other on our lives. We are all over the world and in different phases of life. 

“It’s nice to switch off from cycling. On rest days, I try to manage things for my business, and in my free time, I also try to be very organised, keeping the balance between racing, training, and projects. During races, I’m fully focused, but if I have an idea, I write a note on my phone and develop it later at home.”

“I knit, it’s very cathartic. Yoga is part of my life, but it’s also a hobby. When sport is your job and also your hobby, the two tend to go hand in hand. I’m really into coffee: drinking it, learning about it, and exploring the science behind it. I enjoy baking, especially cakes, and gardening. Everything that allows you to mentally disconnect from racing is very good and refreshing for you. I like to socialise with friends, go out for dinner, and do normal things. The beach is my happy place, it takes me back to my childhood friends, and it's a sensory experience. In the off-season, I run a lot, it was my first absolute love in sport.”

Claire Steels embodies the dynamic, forward-thinking spirit of women’s cycling, where passion, grit, and entrepreneurial drive meet. From running her own fitness business to racing at the top level with the Movistar Team, Claire’s path speaks for itself. She’s living proof that it’s never too late to change the direction of your life. Her approach to nutrition and fitness is based on knowledge and experience. Claire channels her journey into tangible resources for others.

Claire’s influence extends far beyond her results; through her authenticity and mentorship, she’s opening doors for future generations of athletes, showing that the journey, growth, and balance are what success is really about. She has a knack for raising the bar, not just for herself but for the whole community, helping others discover their best, both on and off the bike.