After 16 months without racing because of concussion, Taco van der Hoorn returns with solo victory 🥇 We all liked that 🥹 #Elfstedenrace 🏆
"I can hopefully get a contract for 2025" - Taco van der Hoorn boosts career prospects with victory at Elfstedenrace after nightmare spell
CyclingWednesday, 02 October 2024 at 17:00
Taco van der Hoorn has not had it easy over the past couple of years. But on Wednesday afternoon at Elfstedenrace 2024, the Intermarché - Wanty rider took his first victory in nearly two and a half years.
“Really, I get emotional about it. It’s very special to win here,” the Dutchman reflected openly in a post-race interview with Wielerflits afterwards. “It’s been extremely difficult for a very long time. Black, unclear and doubting whether I would ever get healthy again. At some point it went well again, I could train again and do things that make you feel like a cyclist again. That in itself was super special.”
After more than a year's absence after a horrific crash at the Tour of Flanders in 2023, Van der Hoorn's career at the top level looked as if it might have been over. Even now, the 30-year-old's future is unclear as he nears the end of his Intermarché - Wanty contract with no 2025 deal on the horizon. Van der Hoorn is now hopeful, this emotional victory at Elfstedenrace can boost his hopes of securing a deal for the next season.
“I trained super hard to get back. I noticed in the Tour of Germany and in the BEMER Cyclassics that I was back in good shape quite quickly. The races were all quite easy, so I couldn't show much. I was annoyed about that. It was a tough race now and I could hit the mark. In terms of power and level, I knew I was at my old level, but it was frustrating that I couldn't show it," he concludes. “I wanted to have one outlier, the goal was to show once that I was completely back. That is not possible in every race, it also has to be a bit of luck. Paris-Tours is also tailor-made for me and then I will go to China. And then I can hopefully get a contract for 2025. I have shown in the past that I can do it, I can do it now too, so I will definitely succeed next year. It was already clear to me that I was back, but now everyone has seen it.”
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