Discover the promising and versatile Belgian of Soudal Quick-Step Devo.
His second season with our feeder squad has seen Jasper Schoofs take new steps forward in his career and score results that confirmed his progress but also the potential he carries. A stage win at the Giro Next Gen and a strong top ten overall at the Tour de l’Avenir, together with a silver medal at the U23 ITT Nationals and a noteworthy podium on the final stage of Volta Comunitat Valenciana, where he competed alongside the World Tour squad, are the standout results of the 20-year-old from Mol.
But the young Belgian didn’t stop there, as he also impressed with the amount of work he put in for the team, playing a pivotal role in achieving some of its biggest goals. For that reason, before his final outings of the season, we talked with him about the remarkable year he’s had in the Soudal Quick-Step Devo jersey and future objectives.
“I started cycling because my dad did it for fun, and then I gave it a try myself and fell in love with it. I still remember how competitive I was and how much I used to ride together with my grandfather and my dad back then. These are memories I’m incredibly fond of today.”
Then, as the years went by, I decided this is what I wanted to do.
“My desire was to work hard and become better in order to turn pro. At one point, Johan Molly called me and we had a nice talk, which gave me a huge amount of confidence. We immediately built a really strong bond, and that made choosing the Soudal Quick-Step Devo team feel like a natural decision. I wasn’t wrong, because after two years here, I can say it feels like a family where everyone supports and pushes each other to become better. I can see the progress I’ve made in these seasons, and I can proudly say that now I’ve become a more complete rider but also made significant progress in terms of tactics.
Another factor that helped a lot in this journey was racing with the World Tour team, in competitions like Volta Comunitat Valenciana or Coppi e Bartali. I gained a lot of experience from being around those incredible riders and learned even more about how things work at a professional level.”
I could feel that at the Giro Next Gen and the Tour de l’Avenir, two races that were a big goal this season.
“Winning a stage at the former and wearing the pink jersey is the highlight of my career so far, together with the medal I got at the Junior World Championships two years ago. What I achieved at the Giro made me more confident for L’Avenir, where I wanted to focus a little more on the overall classification. I came really close to victory on the queen stage and finished ninth on the GC, which at the end of the day made for a good week. Looking back, I must say that of the two, L’Avenir was the hardest, because I had to push myself to the limit every single day to avoid losing time in order to stay in contention for a good result.”
“All these things made me even more confident that I can make it to the pro ranks. At the moment, I think I’m somewhere between being a Classics rider and a climber. I hope to develop into a rider who can perform well in tougher stage races where there is climbing involved and go for a Grand Tour stage victory. Getting one is my dream at the moment and I’m determined to continue fighting and working hard for this.”
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
