"I was not good enough to be offered a place in the Visma World Tour team" - Young Danish talent leaves Visma under-23 to join ColoQuick

Team Visma | Lease a Bike is an incredibly strong team and because of this, many talents, even those with quality, don't manage to make it into the elite team. Morten Nortoft is one such case, as he departs the under-23 team and into Danish continental Team Coloquick after an important stint in his career.

He joined the team's development ranks in 2023, and experienced what it's like being part of a top team. "It was a great experience to be part of the setup of one of the biggest cycling teams in the world. Even though I had a development contract, I got everything the pros got," Nortoft told Feltet. "Except for the cool check. I'm very happy to be part of the team, and I've also matured in many ways. I've learned a lot about nutrition, training and what's good for me in general. I thought I knew it already, but I quickly found out that I didn't".

In these two years he wasn't one of the most flashy members of the team, which included riders like Per Strand Hagenes, Tijmen Graat, Loe van Belle, Johannes Staune-Mittet, Matthew Brennan, Menno Huising and Jorgen Nordhagen who all took the leap to the elite team. He still won a stage at the Course de la Paix and finished fifth at the GP Rik van Looy this year.

But there was one issue. "Next season I will no longer be a U23 rider and that means that I will not be part of the development team at Visma | Lease a Bike," he explains. "Then I have to admit that I was not good enough to be offered a place in the Visma World Tour team". With this, he had to find a contract somewhere, but the 22-year old had too much talent to be overlooked by the peloton, and signed a one-year contract with Team Coloquick.

"I had hoped for it of course, but I also have to be honest and admit that my results have not been good enough. It is of course sad, but I take with me that I have become a better rider in recent years. They can offer me freedom and with that the belief that I can also race for results. I was often told: 'You can't ride for your own result these days, because we have other plans here'," he concluded.