Olli Lappalainen: Finnish SISU on Two Wheels — and a Whole New Chapter at Home 🇫🇮
From Porvoo, Finland, Olli Lappalainen is the kind of rider who makes SISU Racing feel unmistakably real. Durable. Team-first. Quietly relentless. The sort of “diesel engine” who doesn’t just survive the hard parts - he settles into them.
And if you’ve seen photos of Olli’s setup, you already know: it’s peak SISU.
A Pain Cave That’s Definitely Not for Cars
Olli’s pain cave lives in an outside garage building that has long since surrendered any chance of storing vehicles. It’s full of bikes - his and his wife’s - and the training happens on a shared indoor setup: a Tacx Neo 3M paired with his old S-Works Tarmac SL6.
Easy rides come with podcasts and audiobooks. When it’s time to go deep, he hits play on ’90s/00s Euro dance - high tempo, full nostalgia, full send.
Coffee? Olli keeps it culturally correct: as a Finn, he enjoys coffee “mainly about quantity, not quality,” and hard rides require at least a couple of cups to get rolling.
As for timing, he can do it all early morning commutes and workouts, late-night ZRL racing because he’s an “excellent sleeper,” which might be the most underappreciated performance advantage in endurance sport.
The Rider: Flatland Diesel, Built for the Team
Ask Olli to describe himself and he doesn’t hesitate: flatland diesel, durable, strong over longer efforts. Short power isn’t his headline. Grinding high power for a long time? That’s home turf.
More importantly, he genuinely believes cycling is a team sport - and he races like it. Olli is the rider who will bury himself for the group without needing a spotlight. The satisfaction is in the execution and the shared result.
From Bandy to Bikes
Olli’s athletic foundation was built in a winter sport called bandy - something he played essentially his whole life. After moving to Porvoo in 2017 to play for the local team, he noticed something: road cycling had deep roots in the region.
In 2019, he decided to test himself. He bought his first proper road bike and began racing. Then in autumn 2020, he added indoor training and Zwift changed everything.
Suddenly, training well wasn’t complicated. It was accessible. Repeatable. Social. Measurable.
Within a year, he climbed to national level, finishing Top 20 at the Finnish Nationals in 2021 = progress he credits in part to the consistent training seasons Zwift enabled.
Setbacks That Redefined What Matters
If Olli’s story has a turning point, it’s 2022.
Coming into the season, he believes he had the best shape of his life - then crashed in the first race and broke his collarbone. He started counting days to June because the Road Nationals were in his hometown, Porvoo. He recovered just in time, fitness still strong… and then things went wrong again.
Another crash. Multiple broken bones on the opposite side from earlier in spring. Worse: a severe brain injury.
Two weeks in hospital. A long, messy recovery. A life that suddenly narrowed to the basics: rest, healing, and patience.
After almost two months, he got permission to ride again and started what he calls “therapy rides” - simple outdoor spins that reminded him he still loved the bike and the feeling of being in motion. During this period, his wife was also dealing with health issues. It wasn’t an easy year. But October 2022 brought a milestone they had been waiting for: their wedding.
Olli’s takeaway from that chapter isn’t dramatic - it’s honest:
After enough setbacks, you remember what’s truly important. Joy can be simple. A ride. A coffee. A pastry. A moment of calm.
Pride, Progress, and Perspective
Olli doesn’t point to one defining win. Instead, his proudest achievement is returning - gradually, stubbornly after everything that happened in 2022. By 2023, he was racing outdoors again, building a new normal.
And cycling gave him a lesson that doesn’t stop at the finish line:
In races, there’s a moment where you feel like you can’t continue. But if you push a little further, it often changes. The situation eases. You find another gear.
Life works the same way. In hard moments, don’t give up. Give what you have. It will ease, and you can still achieve great things.
Married to an Olympian, Now a Dad
Olli’s life outside racing has been just as extraordinary.
His wife, Sara, competed in two Olympics as a middle distance runner - Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024. In Tokyo, she set Finnish national records in both the 800m and 1500m, records that still stand. Olli couldn’t attend Tokyo due to the pandemic, but he was there in Paris - soaking in an atmosphere he describes as truly special, even though Sara’s health issues meant she couldn’t perform at her best.
After Paris, Sara stepped away from elite competition - soon after they received the best news of all: she was pregnant. In July 2025, they welcomed a baby boy.
Now the family is deep in a new chapter - one that’s equal parts chaotic and beautiful. And if you’re wondering whether training talk still happens at home: absolutely. Sara remains competitive, and Olli is already eyeing a new mission —helping coach Sara into her cycling debut in the Finnish road scene in 2026… and maybe even into some SISU races.
Races With Akilles Green Team — Real Life Meets Online Spirit
Olli hasn’t just made an impact on the virtual scene. In real life, he’s raced proudly with Akilles Green Team, a group that blends Finnish cycling tradition with community spirit — much like his approach to Zwift. Events he’s lined up with Akilles include:
Porvoon Ajot – One of Finland’s oldest road races and a personal hometown highlight, especially meaningful in its 100-year anniversary edition.
FNLD GRVL (Finland Gravel) – The inaugural international gravel event in Finland, where racers enjoy forest routes, community support, and the joy of exploring nature on two wheels. Olli notes that this was as much a celebration of place and camaraderie as it was a race.
Local Finnish Road Events – Olli has pushed himself with Akilles Green Team at a series of local criteriums and road courses, blending team tactics with his durable engine.
These real-world experiences reinforce what he loves about cycling most: connection, nature, challenge — and seeing SISU kits in action outside the digital realm.
Training Wisdom From a Durable Engine
Olli’s advice is practical and refreshingly human:
Eat your carbs. Especially for indoor rides where what you eat beforehand really matters.
Fuel properly on long outdoor rides — during the ride, not just before.
Don’t ramp up crazy hours immediately. Let the body adapt gradually.
And one of his best tips has nothing to do with watts:
Don’t forget to enjoy it when things are going well.
Endurance athletes chase “better” so relentlessly that we sometimes forget to appreciate the good shape we already have.
Finnish SISU, Shared Globally
As a Finn, Olli feels genuine pride seeing the concept of SISU travel worldwide through SISU Racing. In his eyes, thousands more people now understand that SISU isn’t just grit — it’s resilience, perspective, humility, and the ability to keep going with meaning.
Racing What Matters
Olli will be racing the Club Championships in March — though the family heads to Mallorca mid-month for a cycling trip, meaning he’ll be on the start line for the TT and Crit before they leave. New York suits him well, but the TT is where his diesel engine shines brightest.
ZRL remains a favourite because it turns effort into something shared. TTTs, especially, are where Olli feels most at home: communication, sacrifice, and the satisfaction of performing as one unit.
Looking Ahead to 2026
Olli’s goals now are beautifully grounded:
Stay upright. Enjoy it. Perform well when the flag drops — but keep perspective.
One race stands above the rest: Porvoon Ajot, his hometown event and one of Finland’s oldest sporting traditions.
Off the bike, the biggest “event” is at home — raising their son and watching him learn something new every day.
SISU, In Olli’s Words
Finish the sentence?
“SISU Racing is… a great community!”
From bandy winters to cycling summers, from hospital recovery to wedding joy, from Olympic stands to fatherhood — Olli Lappalainen carries Finnish SISU in the most authentic way: not loudly, not for show, but consistently — day after day — where it counts.
