Dutch coach believes young riders should also look beyond cycling: "If you see yourself purely as a cyclist, then you literally lose your identity when you stop racing"
Cycling
The story of the two promising Soudal - Quick-Step riders who stopped racing rang alarm bells among the cycling echelons as it is rather unprecedented. Little is spoken about the complications of becoming professional cyclist, including social isolation
We have seen cases like this one before (f.e. American supertalent Adrien Costa in 2017), but it's rare to involve multiple riders of the same team. Former professional cyclist Xandres Vervloesem also pulled the plug on his cycling career 2 years ago. Because the sport he once loved so much, no longer made him happy.
"If you really want to become a professional cyclist, you will do everything for it with social isolation as a danger," the then Lotto cyclist found out. A series of setbacks and too many sacrifices broke him sourly. At the age of 21, he quit racing. "During my time with the DSM promises I lost the joy of cycling. I had moved to the Netherlands and was isolated there, far away from my friends," he confessed to Sporza.
Natascha Knaven-den Ouden, manager of the NXTG project, tries to make the view of young female cyclists less scary "by telling them that they should not identify with what they do", is her vision. "You are not a cyclist, but you do cycling. Because if you see yourself purely as a cyclist, then you literally lose your identity when you stop racing."
Knaven advises her riders to discover their other talents in addition to racing. "As a rider, you don't sit on a bike for 8 hours. So you still have time to challenge your brain and study, for example. At a certain point in your career, you may find out that racing doesn't suit you. Then you can still go another way."
Knaven also makes sure that there is still enough fun in her youth teams. "For example, one of our assistant team leaders sometimes makes pizzas after the race as a recovery meal."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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