Professional cyclist Lizzie Holden of Tromode has been in a strict lockdown scenario in Girona, northeastern Spain for more than a fortnight.

Approximately 60 miles northeast of Barcelona, the city lies beside the River Onyar and is known for its medieval architecture, walled old quarter and the Roman remains of the Força Vella fortress.

Lizzie, daughter of former leading professional Rob Holden [and mum Rachel], has lived and trained in Girona for the past year or so.

She formerly rode for the UK-based Drops team, but over the past winter signed to ride for the Spanish Bizkaia Durango set-up that contests the UCI Women’s World Tour.

In her second ride for the team in late February she produced the best result of her career to date with an excellent second place on stage three of Setmana Cicliste Valenciana stage race.

The 22-year-old, born and raised in the Isle of Man, is living with her partner, Nick Schultz, who rides for the Australian Mitchelton-Scott UCI WorldTeam.

We conducted a question and answer interview with Lizzie last week:

Could you start by telling the readers back home a little about the lockdown in Girona?

LH: We have been on full lockdown for more than two weeks now. My boyfriend Nick and I are in our 70-metre square apartment. We live right in the city centre, which is usually a constant flow of people and noise, but now there’s just the sound of police driving down the street.

We are only permitted to leave our apartment to go to supermarkets and pharmacies.

Police have stopped and fined people who are doing anything other than this without a good reason, the fines range up 3,000 Euros [£2,690]!Recently even more measures have been put in place, such as being required to carry a form with you every time you leave your house explaining why you are doing so.The police have even gone to the extent of asking people to present receipts to prove that people have been to the supermarket. Describe your average day in Girona under the current situation.LH: We are forbidden to do any outdoor activities - cycling, running etc - in case of accidents, which would add more strain to the already limited health care situation. This usually fills the majority of our days, so it’s been a big change for both of us.Fortunately, we have an indoor trainer so we are lucky enough to be able to do some form of training/exercise.However, with racing being cancelled for the foreseeable it’s a very strange situation for a lot of athletes worldwide, in the sense that we don’t know what or when we are training for. This obviously takes a big hit to our motivation.The majority of cyclists are taking an easy period right now, with the aim not to burn out when racing eventually does restart again, but I am enjoying training inside as it’s keeping me sane and fills my days up!Other daily activities right now include some home gym workouts, a bit of yoga here and there, some Wim Hof breathing and baking, whilst also trying not to eat them all within a few hours!When was the last time you got outdoors on your bike?LH:  One of the last times I rode outside was in Holland for a pre-race ride, before being told less than 24 hours prior to the race that it was cancelled. I had it a lot easier than most of my team though as I was quickly booked on a flight back to Barcelona the following morning, whereas they had all just driven 15 hours from the Basque Country, and had to do it all again in the morning.

There are quite a number of professional riders based in Girona, are you in regular contact with many?LH: Although a lot of cyclists here have returned home to Australia etc to see family and boyfriends in this uncertain time, a lot are still here so I’m really appreciative to have others experiencing the same situation.We regularly have phone calls to check up on each other and have some sort of social interaction in our days.We’ve had dinner with a few friends over FaceTime. None of us saw the future looking quite like this! How’s the mood amongst the local population and your fellow riders? Any singing from balconies yet?LH: The spirit of everybody here seems to remain high so far. It’s truly amazing to see how respectful everybody has been, and I think it plays a large part in helping make everybody feel like we really are in this together.No singing from balconies yet, but there has been clapping at 8pm every night to support and show appreciation to nurses, doctors and all health care workers putting themselves at risk on the front line of the pandemic.How are the local food and leisure outlets coping - I take it that most are shut down?LH: All cafes and restaurants closed down a few days before the full lock down started. A few are doing online deliveries, but I’m sure a lot will be facing a very challenging time, amongst many others in the world.Hopefully the announcement that Spain’s government will pay benefits to workers temporarily laid-off, and suspend mortgage payments for those whose employment has been affected by the outbreak, among other measures, will be enough to keep these businesses from closing down.You had a great start to the season, what races were planned for the coming month?LH: Thankfully I was able to get a few race days done for the 2020 season, and pick up a podium in Valencia, but hopefully they weren’t my last chances.So far I’ve had 25 race days of my programme cancelled, and that’s only until the end of Mayâ?¦ these include World Tour races like Ronde Van Drenthe and stage races such as Vuelta a Burgos.I had the Giro planned for June, but at this rate I imagine racing to start in July at the earliest, so who knows what will happen. I guess some races will be postponed until later in the year, or cancelled altogether.Where was Nick when the lock down came into force? LH: Nick was on a training camp a few hours away but within Catalunya when word got out of the potential lock down.He was with the team when they advised that everyone return to their homes or wherever they felt most comfortable. So, the next day, after only three days of the camp, they all rode back to Girona. He’s from Brisbane, but now spends almost all of his time in Spain. What were/are his current plans for the year? LH: His plans revolved around some of the week-long WorldTour races, the Ardennes Classics and the Vuelta a Espana towards the end of the year.At the moment, there is a huge amount of uncertainty as to how things will go from here. He has basically taken the last couple of weeks as a reset and had plenty of down time.He’ll start to get some type of structure in the coming days, but without knowing a date on return to racing, it’s difficult to know exactly how to approach the coming weeks - particularly if we are indoors.What are you missing most about home?LH: I’m missing dog walks with all my family, aunties, uncles and cousins, finished off with some coffee and homemade cakes!I would also love a nice long group ride round the Isle of Man, finishing with a Noa Bakehouse coffee and an almond croissant right now!