"I do all the training days with the real climbers" - Frank van den Broek on trying to find his role within Team dsm-firmenich PostNL

Frank van den Broek was one of the pleasant surprises of 2023. While racing for continental Dutch ABLOC, he made a good name for himself finishing eighth at the elite National Championships and with few smaller victories. Now he's heading to a first race with Team dsm-firmenich PostNL at Tour of Oman. IDLProCycling.com had a chat with the neo-pro ahead of his professional debut.

Van den Broek first joined the Development for second half of 2023, what were his first impressions? "That it's really a professional organization, because that's what it is: a business. The transition was quite natural because the first race I rode with the Development Team was actually immediately my last. After that, I've only been with the WorldTour team."

"I've now been placed in the classification group, so I do all the training days with the real climbers," the 23-year-old says about trying to discover his identity as a rider. "But the program is really diverse, so I've had the chance to really find out what suits me best or what I'm most passionate about. That's really nice."

"I'll start in Oman, with Fabio Jakobsen among others. That's one of the only races I'll do with the sprint train, but after that, there are races like the Vuelta a Catalunya. But then there are also some classics mixed in, so it's a bit up and down," he says about his schedule, noting the Vuelta a Espana could be also on the cards if everything goes well.