For Michael Woods, 2022 will mark his 10th year as a bicycle racer and his 7th year as a professional, but the 35-year-old Israeli Startup Nation climber said he still does not consider himself a veteran of the sport.

Woods, who switched from middle-distance running after suffering an injury, will compete in his second season with the Israeli team next year after a five-year stint with EF Education First. [He won two stages and finished in the top 10 at the Vuelta a España, won in Milan-Torino, and was on the podium at the World Championships and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. However, he told Cycling News at ISN's end-of-season camp that he hesitates to label himself a veteran of the sport.

"I certainly don't consider myself a veteran, but I don't consider myself an imposter right now," Woods told Cycling News in Tel Aviv.

"And Woods told Cycling News in Tel Aviv, 'I don't think of myself as a veteran.'

"I feel like I belong in the sport, but I feel like a veteran outside the cycling sphere. Because a lot of athletes don't go to college or have a decent job. [but] as far as racing goes, I knew nothing about it in the beginning, and now I have a better understanding of the sport.

Despite not being a self-proclaimed veteran, Woods has just completed his second year at the WorldTour level and has a wealth of experience to pass on to the entire team, which has made a rapid rise to a top 10 UCI ranking in 2021.

Not only does he lead in races where he can finish in the top ten, but he also helps the rest of the team by mentoring his teammates as well as working domestiques.

"Last year, and this year, I hope to be more so. I want to be more of a leader in the years to come." Nicki Sorensen asked me to be a team leader, a team captain. That's a role I really want to move forward in.

"I like the leadership aspect. I have a running coaching business in Canada, so I like being a leader and a mentor in that sense.

As the years have progressed and ISN has grown into one of the top teams in the sport, the riders there have changed. Big names like Woods, Chris Froome, Giacomo Nizzolo, Sepp Vanmarcke, and Jakob Fuglsang lead the 2022 team, but there have been other changes as well, including the progress of local riders.

A few years ago, having an Israeli rider start a Grand Tour was seen as a success, but now the team's Israeli group, Omer Goldstein, Guy Niv, Itamar Einhorn, and Guy Sagiv, have each achieved results and are strong in the big races They are proving to be helpers, Woods said.

"I think now I'm seen as an actual professional rider, not just a "token Israeli." Itamar beat Peter Sagan on stage 4 of the Tour of Slovakia. Omer Goldstein was useful in this year's Tour.

"That is cycling's biggest handicap from an international perspective. It is not that the Italians and Belgians are inherently physically superior. They have the best infrastructure. And the more international the teams become and the more infrastructure from other countries, the better the countries will perform.

"That reflects the UCI rankings in Canada over the last few years. We now have a WorldTour team that is half Canadian, but we are far ahead of other countries in the U.S. Continental rankings. The situation will be similar for Israeli cycling. Thanks to this infrastructure, it will get even better."

In 2022, the ISN will be keeping an eye on more than just the big names. That said, Woods is definitely one to watch, given that he has declared that he can still improve at an age when many other professionals (those who have had more traditional careers and those who have gone much further) are starting to think about ending their careers.

In 2021, he enjoyed a strong campaign, winning big in the mountains of the Tour de Romandie, finishing in the top five in the Olympic road race, La Flèche Wallonne, Liège, and the Swiss and British Tours. Looking ahead to next year, he is in a "good groove" and looking forward to a stress-free season heading for big goals like the Tokyo Olympics.

"For me, I'm really looking forward to having a less stressful season," Woods said. 'No World Championships for me. No World Championships, and I don't think I'll ever go to Australia. No Olympics either. [So] I'm just enjoying the season and seeing what kind of results I can get. I really enjoyed racing my bike, especially in the last block of the season. I'm in a really good groove right now and I'm sure we'll get good results."

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