Gent Wevelgem

By now, you know that I will turn professional next year with EF Education First. What you might not know is that my father was also a cyclist in his day. Unfortunately, a knee injury stopped him from pursuing a professional career. When I started getting more serious on the bike, he didn’t push me to become a professional either.

It wasn’t his priority for me to make it to the pro’s. He knows how hard sport can be and the pressure you go through.

It was more important to him who I became as a person, more than being a good bike rider.

As a young cyclist that’s not necessarily what I wanted to hear, but as a son, I believed that was the role of a good father. Who you become as a person is one of the lessons my parents instilled in me from early on.

When I was 16-years-old, I was sent away to boarding school in Kaiserslautern. It was a great opportunity to combine sports and school. I could get an education that I could fall back on if cycling didn’t work out so it was a great opportunity for a young guy going after a professional cycling career.

I left all my family and friends behind. This situation quickly became the biggest challenge of my life. There were moments when I didn’t know how I would continue. I was lonely. I would come home after training to nobody and would have to cook for myself. I was overthinking everything in my life.

My parents called me back home and sat me down. They told me, this will always be your home but you have to overcome this challenge. You have to find your own way and become independent. Home will always be here when I needed it.

The whole experience forced me to grow up and I’m glad I went through it because it probably prepared me for the life of a professional.

After making it through boarding school, I started believing I could become a professional. If I could overcome that, I could overcome other challenges.

Cycling became a big priority. I worked on losing weight. I lost 10 kilograms and did more structured training. It was tough to lose weight because I’m very tall, 1.97m and very muscular. I had to be very disciplined and rode more kilometres than ever before but boarding school prepared me to be disciplined.

I also had a goal in mind.

I set my sights on Gent Wevelgem this year. If you asked me on the startline that morning if I thought I could win, my answer is, “absolutely, yes.”

Since November 2018, my life was centred around this race. Every day I went training, Gent was on my mind, especially when the weather was really shit. I would ride in terrible weather and think about winning the race. 

Nobody knew me before Gent Wevelgem.

I’d gotten a few results here and there but I was still an unknown. I knew that this was my day, that everyone would know me after today.

The first part of the race was slow because everyone was watching each other. Then there were some really hard crosswinds. I decided to go for it. I was solo after 60 kilometres of racing then some riders came from behind. We formed a group. Then we went up the Kemmelberg for the first time. I attacked and no one could follow my pace. I was alone for 5 kilometres but there was still 80 kilometres to go so I thought it wasn’t such a good idea. I waited for the group.

The second time up the Kemmelberg I attacked again. I was alone again for 7 kilometres then a small group caught me. In the final, there were several attacks. I counterattacked one of them then got a gap.

Andreas Leknessund caught me from behind and it became clear the win was between the two of us. He is a really good rider but I looked into his eyes and could tell he was finished. I opened the sprint from the front and went full, he had no chance.

Like I told you before, this was my day.

I pointed my hands to the sky. I can’t explain the feeling to you.

The interest from World Tour teams started immediately. Then I got fifth in Tour of Flanders and it was confirmation that the classics are for me. The interest got bigger.

I became a marked rider in the races. I went from a nobody to having everyone on my wheel when I attacked in the following races.

I decided on EF Education First because after studying all the offers, I believed it would be the right environment for me. I really like the look of the team and what they stand for. I went home to visit my parents. We were sitting at the dinner table. While we were eating, I started grinning. I said, “Dad, I’ve signed my first pro contract.” He was very proud. It was a great moment. I totally surprised them. My parents were there every step of the way in the last few years through the good and tough times. They saw how hard I worked for this and were supportive. They got me to this new point in my life and made sure I was a well-rounded person before I was a bike rider so I’m looking forward to continuing this journey with them.