Having made the massive step up from amateur racing to the WorldTour peloton after strong performances in certain U23 races last season, Jardi Christiaan van der Lee has already raced in some of the biggest races on the calendar after signing for EF Education-EasyPost last summer.
The 22-year-old Dutch rider had been racing for the club team Willebrord Wil Vooruit at the beginning of 2023, but joined the American outfit as a stagiaire in August, racing for them at the Tour de Langkawi at the end of the season, where he finished 12th overall.
There has certainly been an adjustment period for Van der Lee, as although he has ridden in races such as Tour Down Under, UAE Tour and Paris-Roubaix, he has not contested any victories as of yet.
Speaking to WielerFlits in an interview at the Tour of the Alps this week, Van der Lee discussed how he was adapting to racing in the WorldTour, as he said “I have been introduced to a lot of new things in recent months. I’m glad I was able to do this. It is one big learning process, and we hope that I will be able to sort everything out again in the coming months after almost thirty days of racing. Then I can start the second part of the season”.
On the differences between racing in the amateur and professional ranks, the Dutchman went on to say that “the speed is a bit higher than at club level, but in terms of the difficulty of the races it is not too bad. The amateur races I rode were also quite tough. In terms of level, it is not very far apart, but there are things that make it a little more difficult to stay away from the pros. There is more riding as a team, and with the amateurs it is more every man for himself”.
When asked how the move to EF Education-EasyPost came about last year, Van der Lee stated “I had some good results last year in the middle of the season. After that I was allowed to participate twice in the Dutch selection to show myself. That went really well. I grabbed the opportunities with both hands, then teams showed up and showed interest. One of these was EF Education-EasyPost. We clicked so well that I immediately wanted to work with them”.
On what he hopes to get out of the remainder of the season, he said “I just want to gain a lot of experience before the end of the year. You do this by being able to ride as many races as possible. We don't try to force it too much, it all has to remain feasible. I think we are well on our way. For next year we can use the experiences of this year and see what else we can achieve”.
Jardi van der Lee put in some grunt work at the #TourDownUnder today. 💪 Our rookie put in a solid ride in the break and scooped up some mountain points. Hectic finale for the bunch with Archie, Harry, Jonas and Stefan de Bod all finishing in the lead group.
