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”.
