Megan Jastrab

Still a young rider, 2019 junior world champion Megan has settled in well upon joining Team DSM in 2021. A year of no racing in 2020 as her second junior season was curtailed by the pandemic, and her focus on the Tokyo Olympics, saw her debut with the team delayed until the middle of the year, but since then she has made progress.

“Coming straight to WorldTour was a bit of a shock to me. I think I performed well and helped the team, but I really needed to relearn the basics.”

Relearn the basics she did and “something clicked” for Megan in the second part of the 2022 season after a roster change gave her the opportunity to be the team’s sprint finisher at the Tour of Scandinavia. Firmly taking that opportunity with both hands, Megan sprinted to second on the opening day and moved into the lead of the best young rider jersey. Following that up and brimming with confidence she took second at MerXem Classic before some more solid racing in the finale of the year.

“That was a turning point for me. I was like ‘I can do this; I do deserve to be here.’ Which was a great feeling.”

Not from a cycling family as such, Megan and her brother Ryan always did things together when they were younger. Growing up outdoors they would go dirt biking, skiing, skateboarding and just ride regular bikes. Her dad raced a bit when recovering from an American Football injury in college, and after she saw him out on group rides, they wanted to join. Starting with BMX at a local track called High Desert, they had to haggle their parents for road bikes but at around the age of 11, Megan’s journey on the road began.

“It went pretty quick then from racing some local events, to state championships, to nationals, then to Europe and the national team – and here we are now!”

Looking inwards, Megan would classify herself as “outgoing”, “driven” and a “perfectionist”. For the latter she laughs while using the example of not getting full marks on a test at school, where she’s currently studying business and exercise science, but that she’s “currently working on her patience” to get past that one.

With her lively persona, Megan likes to think that she keeps the spirit high within the group and makes sure that the “vibes are good” before and after race day by either playing music or just generally being happy.

“You have to enjoy it because it’s hard and at the end of the day it’s our job, but I still try and find the reason I started cycling – enjoying competition, developing and having fun, so I try and remember that.”

Away from the bike she enjoys hanging out with friends, reading, cooking, or baking – with baclava her current favourite to make but “it would definitely be a dessert” either way. Despite her protestation that she’s “not really interesting, I just do school and ride my bike”, we did find out Megan also knows American Sign Language, which we think is pretty interesting!