It says everything about Neah Evans as both an athlete and a person that even in a year in which she became word champion for the second time, she’s feeling far from comprehensively satisfied.

Despite preparing to sit down for Christmas dinner knowing a rainbow jersey, which only reigning world champions are in possession of, is safely tucked in her cupboard, Evans is swirling with a mixture of emotions that includes more than a hint of frustration.

“This was a year in which I had some really good results and I’m really pleased with some parts of it but in other ways, I feel quite frustrated because there’s parts that didn’t go as well as I’d have liked,” said Evans, whose world title came in the madison. 

“I know that’s the nature of sport but I can be quite a perfectionist and so I do think about what I could have done to make it better.

“I crashed just before the Worlds so had a bit of an injury and although it didn’t affect the madison, I’d liked to have ridden better in other events. So it’s hard not to wonder if the crash hadn’t happened, how could I have done.”

Evans is one of only an extremely select group of Scots who end 2023 as world champion.

That madison world title, with her GB teammate Elinor Barker, came in dream circumstances; on her home track, the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, in Glasgow’s east-end in front of a legion of her family and friends.

It’s easy, admits Evans, to get swept up in the elite athlete mindset of only looking forwards. 

After all, looking backwards, whether at good performances or bad ones, isn’t going to win any medals.

But when Evans is reminded of the unprecedented path she took to get to this point of being someone who has in their trophy cabinet medals from every major championship, she admits it stops her in her tracks.

Just six years ago, Evans was working as a veterinary surgeon.

She had begun cycling purely for fun with few, if any, expectations that it would lead anywhere at all, never mind to the very top of her sport.

In her early days on a bike, she was still known almost entirely as a vet and the majority of questions strangers would ask her were about their poorly cat or under-the-weather hamster. Cycling was viewed entirely as a hobby, with almost no enquiries coming her way about bike-related issues.

How quickly things can change, though.

Since becoming a full-time cyclist in 2017, Evans has re-written the manual when it comes to becoming a professional cyclist – outwith the 33-year-old, the path almost exclusively involves young athletes coming through the British Cycling system before reaching the top tier of riders – so much so, she’s now intensely grateful for any animal questions to be tossed her way.

And even Evans acknowledges that the transformation from a vet who harbours a talent for cycling into someone who is not entirely content despite being world champion is as drastic as it is impressive.

“It definitely is a shift realising that winning one world title doesn’t make me entirely satisfied. That’s a bit sad to admit,” the Aberdeenshire native says.

“It all feels so strange because it’s been such a rapid trajectory for me.

“When I first started cycling, if someone had told me I’d go to a Commonwealth Games, I’d have said no way. Then if someone had said I’d get on GB, I’d have said no way. And then if someone had said I’d win a world title but not be completely happy, I’d have said absolutely no way. 

“In some sense, it’s a nice way to be because I still feel like I’ve got so much more to give as a cyclist.

“I do occasionally still get some vet questions, which I love because it keeps my hand in. But there is a definite shift in that I’m now seen as a bike rider and having been a working vet gets quite lost now. 

“I like getting vet questions but sometimes I’ll get asked something about someone’s animal and I’ll think I used to know that but maybe I need to do some reading to remind myself.”

Given her previous career, it’s hardly surprising that Evans is a deep thinker who is as intelligent an athlete as you’ll ever come across.

However, it’s both a blessing and a curse in elite sport to have a brain, and know how to use it.

Being an over-thinker is a common trait for particularly cerebral athletes and Evans fits into this category perfectly.

She is, she admits, a chronic analyser and for every race she’s ridden in real life, she’s re-ridden it dozens, maybe even hundreds of times in her mind.

It’s a quality that, she admits, drives her coaches mad at times but ultimately, often produces more fruitful outcomes.

“I definitely over-think things. You come across a range of people in sport and there’ll be people who just tick the box and move on rather than running through things in their head a hundred times a day. I often think that’d be a nice way to be,” she says.

“There is definitely scope to question things in British Cycling, though, except I maybe do that more than my coach would like. 

“In track cycling, there’s an evolution of technology and knowledge and training so things do change all the time. 

“If we still had the same approach as was there for London 2012, it wouldn’t cut the mustard now so we constantly need to develop and move on to try to stay ahead of the other nations. Most people are pretty encouraging about the athletes asking questions because nobody can know everything and so I think it’s good to have these conversations. And for me, if I understand why I’m doing something, I’m probably going to have a better outcome in training.”

If Evans is already an over-thinker, her mind is about to go into overdrive.

In just over a week’s time, the calendar will flip over into 2024 and we’ll be in Olympic year.

Evans is one of only a select few Scots who have a very specific goal in 2024, and that’s to become Olympic champion.

She does, she reveals, worry that she sounds somewhat arrogant admitting that the only result that will truly satisfy her in the coming year is to stand atop the podium but in reality, even a fool can see that it’s the only possible target Evans could have.

Having won silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 in the team pursuit, Evans then become world points champion in 2022 before winning her madison world title earlier this year. Add to that a European team pursuit title, world team pursuit silver and points race and individual pursuit silver and bronze at the Commonwealth Games, all in the past two years, there is only one significant gap in her CV and that’s Olympic gold.

And so to be harbouring such a specific and niche goal is, concedes the former vet, a quite outrageous admission, although she desperately pulls herself back from getting too caught up in the prospect.

“In the past, there was a time where I just wanted to get to an Olympics because being able to say you’re an Olympian is a huge achievement. But I have that accolade now and I got a silver medal so I’m now thinking I want to improve on that silver,” she says.

“It does feel mad to be talking about Olympic gold medals, though. 

“But you just get swept up in it all and get carried onto the next thing and the next thing for me is to become Olympic champion. It’s funny to hear myself say that because yes, it’s the truth but I think it also sounds a bit conceited because for so many people, just going to the Olympics is such a target but now, that’s not good enough for me. 

“I know, though, that the result only comes at the end of a process and there’s so many pieces of the puzzle that I have to put in place first. 

“So while I want to be Olympic champion, I know I need to get all the pieces of the puzzle and then put them all together and it’s only then I’ll have a chance of achieving my ultimate goal.”

With the Opening Ceremony of Paris 2024 now only seven months away, the Olympic Games is so close it’s almost within touching distance.

But for Evans, and her British Cycling teammates, the Olympics feel even closer than for most others.

The British Cycling philosophy is to compete sparingly, driving some – notably Evans – close to distraction with the lack of racing opportunities.

Between now and Paris, Evans will race only three, or at most four, times.

Such a limited schedule gives very little scope for mistakes, particularly when Evans is having to battle ferociously internally just to secure a ride in her preferred events.

The ideal would, she says, to be riding the team pursuit and madison in Paris but there’s a lot of hard hours of training to be done before she will have confirmed in which event, or events, she’s made the cut.

Her first outing of 2024 will be the European Championships, which take place in three weeks in the Netherlands.

Fresh off a pre-Christmas training camp in the sunny climes of Spain have left Evans in good shape but with the Olympics far and away the priority, there’s every chance she’s yet short of her very best form in January.

But Evans is a competitive animal despite her friendly exterior and she admits it would be nice to start the year as she intends to finish it; with a gold medal dangling around her neck.

“I’m competitive so I never go into a race not wanting to win,” she says. 

“Sometimes it’s more of a stretch because I’ll not be in the form I’d like, but I always want to win. 

“So I’d always go to the Europeans hoping for gold but I also have to be realistic and know that really, the target for the year is Paris in July.”