The 21-year-old neo-pro will make his debut for the team in just a couple of days, at the Challenge Mallorca.
“I am really happy to be on this team. Soudal Quick-Step has an incredible history with the Classics and developing young riders, and for me personally, getting here was something I wanted to happen, because this is the team of my dreams. All you need to do is have a look over its fantastic list of achievements and number of riders who made history in races such as Flanders and Roubaix to get a sense of how incredible this squad is and the tradition it was in the Monuments.
As a kid, I raced dirt bikes, then moved to mountain biking, after which I made the transition to road cycling. When I was 15, I settled in the Netherlands and raced with the Junior National Team, and I liked what I found in Europe. I am fascinated by the cobbles, their history, what it means taking on them and how different they are from the regular bike race. Cobbles mean a lot of factors, I could even say riding on them it’s kind of similar to motocross in terms of testing and setting.
I got a great welcome from everyone and I feel I’m on the right track to kick off my first pro season.
Back in December, and now in January, I had two solid training camps with the team in Calpe, and I feel ready for my first pro campaign. I’ve never been to Mallorca, but it will be a nice place to start and I’m looking forward to it. I know the races come with different routes, but that doesn’t matter, I’m just happy to don this jersey and pin on a number as a member of Soudal Quick-Step for the first time in my career.
I don’t know what to expect from this season, I don’t have any clear goals as we speak. Hopefully I will get a couple of opportunities to go for some good results and will find out where I am at the moment. But as I said before, I can’t wait to get things started together with the guys. It’s always nice to have new challenges, new goals and guys to learn from, and on this team I get the full package, which makes me happy and motivated. ”
Photo credit: ©Wout Beel
