Learning curves and positive experiences for first-year pro Anna Shackley

OUDENAARDE BELGIUM FEBRUARY 23 Anna Shackley of The United Kingdom and Team SD Worx during the Team SDWorx 16th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2021 Training Team Presentation teamsdworx OmloopHNB OHN21 on February 23 2021 in Oudenaarde Belgium Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
Anna Shackley (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Anna Shackley (SD Worx) has described her first season as a professional as ‘surreal’ but full of good experiences, after a year that saw her race the Tokyo Olympics road race and become British under-23 time trial champion.

“It’s been mad, everything was pretty surreal,” she said of joining SD Worx in 2021. “And I had nothing really to compare it to, because I didn’t race at all really the year before, but it was nothing but good experiences.” 

Matilda Price is a freelance cycling journalist and digital producer based in the UK. She is a graduate of modern languages, and recently completed an MA in sports journalism, during which she wrote her dissertation on the lives of young cyclists. Matilda began covering cycling in 2016 whilst still at university, working mainly in the British domestic scene at first. Since then, she has covered everything from the Tour Series to the Tour de France. These days, Matilda focuses most of her attention on the women’s sport, writing for Cyclingnews and working on women’s cycling show The Bunnyhop. As well as the Women’s WorldTour, Matilda loves following cyclo-cross and is a recent convert to downhill mountain biking.