CyclingClassNL is committed to ensuring the growth of talented cyclists in the Netherlands by guiding them on a daily basis through a scientifically substantiated and personal development programme.

Within the project, Talent Coaches will work with various forms of training that contribute to physical development, personality development and nutritional education of talents, among other things. The daily coaching helps the athletes to gain optimal insight into their learning goals and to find a balance between sport, school and their private lives. The collaborating parties are convinced that this will lead to a better connection towards the World Tour level. The talents will remain connected to their cycling club and regional institutes with regard to races. CyclingClassNL aims to strengthen the collaboration between cyclist, club and Talent Coach with the intended end result being the transfer of talents to national and international development teams at continental and pro-continental level, and developing new cycling champions.

KNWU director Thorwald Veneberg is enthusiastic about the collaboration between the three parties. “Dutch cycling benefits from constantly responding to new developments. That is why it is important to be open to new collaborations and insights. Joining forces with NOC*NSF and Team Jumbo-Visma gives us the opportunity to train talent even more decisively. The intention is for the entire Dutch cycling sport to benefit from the collaboration, whereby we also want to share our knowledge as widely as possible. Input from all parties is very welcome.”

Maurits Hendriks, technical director of NOS*NSF, is also pleased with the start of CyclingClassNL. “The Netherlands is a fantastic cycling country and we want to stay that way, but you don’t just stay at the top. To do this, you have to keep investing in the development of talent. Only then can you keep up with the high global level. With CyclingClassNL we are now investing in talent development with the aim of future orange success.”

Like Veneberg, Hendriks also recognises that each party brings its own expertise: “We have a lot of experience in combining top sport with education for example. That is very important for this age group. Together we look at what is good for Dutch top sport and all three have the same goal in mind.”

“With our Team Jumbo-Visma Academy, a wish of Jumbo founder Karel van Eerd, we are already working to get more young people on the bike”, said Richard Plugge, general manager of Team Jumbo-Visma. “We have already started some great collaborations with cycling clubs. This collaboration with NOC*NSF and KNWU is a next step. In this way, we hope to fill the gap between the clubs and the development teams and to properly guide the talented riders and riders in their development.”

In the coming weeks, the parties will be working on formalising CyclingClassNL. From 2021 onwards, the initiative will start with a group of talents, divided between boys and girls, which will be put together in the coming months.