Nancy van de Ven announced her retirement from the sport back in November 2023 but she decided to come back out of retirement for one more ride at her home round of the WMX series which took place in Arnhem.
The former WMX champion showed that she is still fast finishing sixth in the first moto which is impressive.
We caught up with van de Ven to discuss her weekend and more…
GateDrop: It’s been a while, but first of all, back in the GP paddock and back racing WMX and in your home country. How does it feel to be back after announcing your retirement?
Van de Ven: Yesterday felt really good actually, but I’m not back because this was just a one-time thing. Yesterday I had a lot of fun and I showed a really good first race I think, because I come from no racing at all since I broke my leg.
I finished with motorsport, I have been training and I could finish it in a good position and I really like riding. Today was unfortunately a little bit worse, but that is part of the sport and also partly why I retired. So now I know that it’s just a one more time thing to see that it’s really nice on one side and it can be a little bit tough on the other side and it’s unfortunate, but that’s racing.
GateDrop: Obviously when you were a full time WMX rider, you came here to win but this weekend, it was different. Did that take the pressure off and were you able to enjoy it? Maybe in the past you couldn’t enjoy it as much as this weekend?
Van de Ven: Yeah, exactly. I couldn’t enjoy riding here because it was always focusing on the end result, not on the riding. If you rode like sh*t and you still won the race, it was fine. If you rode like a really good race and you finished third, you always felt like, oh, I should have won. And now it was just, I was not focused on the position, but I focused on my riding.
Yesterday I felt like my riding was in the moto very strong and very good. And yeah, I was really prepared to set another good race today because I came out of my bed and I felt really good. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out the way we wanted because I had a start crash and the bike was pretty much damaged. So I pulled out of the race, but yeah, what I said, that’s racing.
GateDrop: Whenever you did retire, did you ever stop riding completely or did you always ride for fun? I know before this event, I think you had three months on the bike, but that was just for fun. Did you ever stop completely?
Van de Ven: Yeah, when I retired, maybe for the six months after, I’d been on the bike for like five times, something like that. You start missing it because it’s been my life and my lifestyle. Then I had a surgery in November again, which took me off the bike for another 10 weeks. Then I started riding again a little bit and then I had another surgery on my leg, which pulled me out another six weeks. After that, I felt like, oh, I feel really good and I can ride a little bit more. Then when I started riding a little bit more, I was like, oh, I’m still pretty fast. Let’s see if I can get a little bit fit again, because I was not fit in that year. You know, in that year also, you miss living or something. When you go to the track training and you’re riding and after 10 minutes you’re tired, you’re like, what am I doing? Because I should be able to ride for 30 minutes.
Then it was my goal to train again to make it longer. And then I was like, but why I want to ride longer? Because I’m not doing any races. And then I said, what if we go to Arnhem one more time? Because I’m pretty fit, the riding is good and just to have fun.
GateDrop: What is life like without Motocross? What else do you do? Do you do any other sports or anything like that?
Van de Ven: Yeah, well, I work. I have my own beauty company that I already have for six years. So also when I was a professional rider, I worked there. Since I retired, I worked for Yamaha as an ambassador of the bLU cRU program and also as a coach. that is really a really nice opportunity because they kept me inside the paddock and inside racing. They gave me an opportunity to not go into the black hole. So yeah, that’s what I do. I am doing training schools, you can find me on the training track on a Wednesday just to have fun.
GateDrop: Do you train many girls or is it guys as well? Out of the people you train, do you think there’s a future Dutch WMX star, apart from Lotte obviously, from the girls you train?
Van de Ven: Yeah, because I prepare Danee Gelissen, she’s also a Yamaha girl. Personally, I train with her many times. We do some bike testing, suspension, everything. I guide her through the trainings. I think she has a really good potential to finish on the podium when she’s a little bit older and when we have been training a little bit more.
At the bLU cRU program, there’s boys, girls, there’s a lot of talent inside that program. We are trying to catch out the talents and give them some support and things like that. So, we already have the young stars inside Yamaha Racing for the future. So yeah, that’s really nice.
GateDrop: Will you continue to ride just for fun now in the future?
Van de Ven: Yeah, but first this Wednesday I have a surgery on my knee again. When I’m prepared, if I’m recovered from that, of course I still have my bikes. I will be riding because it’s not like this has been your life and from one to the other day, that’s gone. That is the nicest thing I do when I have free time.
GateDrop: Do you think next year, if there’s a WMX round here again, would you consider it? Or is this definitely it?
Van de Ven: No, I think this was it. I know now why I retired and why I’m not doing this on a professional base anymore. Because it’s not only this weekend, we’ve been preparing for three or four months and that is pretty hard. Harder than people can think.
