"Being rejected for pursuing your dreams hurts" - Jan-Willem van Schip reacts to Tour of Holland disqualification

The Tour of Holland has so far been market by its controversies, with stage 3 having been cancelled due to the lack of police escort and the presence of vehicles on the route, as well as the disqualification of Jan-Willem van Schip. The latter has now reacted to the decision that was case upon him, not in a positive mann.er

"If you bet. Go for it. You can lose. If you can lose. You can bet. You can go for it. What do we learn from this situation? That I'm grateful that I can try," the 31-year old said in an Instagram post. "That it's awesome when someone says:

This is what I'm going for; Being yelled at for doing something different is never fun; Being rejected for pursuing your dreams hurts. Being the outcast who approaches things differently leads to a huge amount of unnecessary friction; When things go wrong, you have to be fallible. I'll have to be even better prepared next time; That it's awesome to be curious. Curious to get faster, spend less energy, try different things. Curious to win; That the amount of support I'm getting on my journey is incredible. That I'm truly grateful for that. That so many people shouted 'Go Willem' on rainy Thursdays. I keep feeling that people are worried about me and want me to be okay. That moves me".

Ultimately the Dutchman is very disappointed with the decision that came about, with Parkhotel Valkenburg's manager Paul Tabak speaking quite strongly about what he believes is a pursuit from the UCI of the van Schip due to his history of unusual bike positions. In this instance, van Schip was disqualified from the race after the end of stage 1 where he was on the attack, due to the bike's seatpost - which supposedly, he had raced with before and had the documentation necessary.

An inovator in the sport, the 1.94-meter tall rider has always been known for his extremely narrow handlebars, also part of his specialty on the track where the rules are more gentle when it comes to handlebar width.

"That's what I realized after a rough patch. I like to solve cycling problems. I like to make quick progress at the right time. After the DSQ because of a seatpost, someone said to me 'Willem, I should do what you're doing with that bike. I'm the same size, I also need different handlebars and seatposts. But I don't dare'. The contrast between what you have to do to perform in cycling and what cycling culture encourages couldn't be greater," he believes.

"Now at university, I'm flourishing. Everyone asks questions, everyone constantly demonstrates the behavior to learn, to be curious, to improve. That makes me happy. What will happen if we blow a leaf blower on that 3D sonic meter?"