After he burst onto the scene at the Tour of Oman with a third place finish on the final stage to Green Mountain behind Adam Yates and Jan Hirt, Intermarché-Wanty were quick to sign Dutch youngster
Huub Artz to a contract for the next two seasons.
The 21-year-old currently rides for their development team,
Wanty-ReUz-Technord, but has been stepping up to the WorldTour team in more and more races this season, as he has ridden for them at Le Samyn, Grand Prix Criquielion, Grote Prijs Jean-Pierre Monseré and the Grand Prix de Denain in the Classics so far.
However, despite already having a guaranteed ticket to the WorldTour next season, Artz is still keen to impress the team in his last season with the development squad, as he said in an interview with WielerFlits that “in practically every U23 race I do, I want to be able to compete for the win. It has always been a dream of mine to ride the Tour de l’Avenir. This year is the last chance for me”.
On how he is preparing to make the step up in 2025, he went on to say “I’m doing everything I can. Last year already gave a good idea of what is possible. If it comes, it comes. And it won't happen otherwise. At the moment I am managing to enjoy cycling and enjoy my sport”.
After finishing in second place at the Dorpenomloop Rucphen at the weekend, Artz is now set to race at Scheldeprijs, De Brabantse Pijl and the Tour of Norway for the WorldTour team, as well as Paris-Roubaix Espoirs, Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23 and Gent-Wevelgem U23 for the development squad.
