Biography
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Back to where it all began. I started cycling when I was 12 years old. I was introduced with cycling when my dad bought a new mountain bike. Of course I had to follow my great example and I started to build cross tracks on the yard of my parents’ farm, the farm where my mother still lives. I moved from the pleasant Varsseveld to the neighboring village of Aalten in the east of Holland and I live here since the end of 2007 with my girlfriend Daisy, our dog Floris and since December 2011 with our daughter Anne.
In the spring of 1998 I started racing with ‘De Peddelaars’ in Aalten where we could buy a new race bike with a huge group of young boys and girls. This was a fantastic motivation to start road cycling. After a few years with lots of fun and perfect guidance of Wim Dieperink, Piet van Lent and René Gildhuis I reached the age of the Under17 category. In my second year as an Under17 I won my first races, with the victory at the Dutch Time Trial Championships as absolute highlight. As a junior René Gildhuis remained my coach and I rode the Heuvelland Tour and the Freedom Course in the Czech Republic with the district selection. As a result of my good performance in the last Heuvelland Three-day I woke the attention of René Kos en Egon van Kessel and I rode the first races with the Dutch selection. From the races with the Dutch selection I learned a lot and as a second-year junior I was much stronger. As a result I won a lot of races and I became Dutch Time Trial Champion again. I finished the nice season with my first participation on a World Championship. With a 6th and 8th place in Verona I was very satisfied.
After that season I was very happy that I got the chance to ride in the Lowik-van Losser team of Han Vaanhold and Frits Schür, where I had a nice year with a few nice victories. I get the chance to participate on the World Championships in Madrid again and it stays with only participating. As second year Under23-rider I got the chance to join the Rabobank Continental Team. With Nico Verhoeven and Piet Kuijs as my trainers I got a lot of experience and I won some beautiful races like the Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda, Circuito Montañes and a second place in the Tour de l’Avenir. I was allowed to participate in the World Championships again and with a sixth place in Salzburg I was very satisfied. After the World Championships I signed my first Prof Contract with Rabobank.
In the first five years at team Rabobank I won a lot of races and I certain quite a few nice places of honor.