PRESS CONFERENCE | "Try and become the best rider I can be in the classics" - Under-23 ITT World Champion Jakob Soderqvist going through 'Cancellara path'

Jakob Söderqvist's great power lays on the time trial bike. The Lidl-Trek rider is the current under-23 World Champion in the discipline, but talking to several news outlets including CyclingUpToDate, he revealed that his great objective is to become a top classics rider.

After two years in the team's development ranks, on paper the Swedish rider is only turning pro in 2025. However this would be very misleading when it comes to interpretations that he is still a rider who is learning the was of racing at the top level. In 2025 he has won the under-23 World Championships by a large margin in Rwanda, but in his few appearances with the elite team, he has also thrived as well.

At the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana he finished third in a hilltop finish where he was leading out Jonathan Milan, and at the Tour of Denmark he won the race's time trial. He finished second in the overall classification there, only behind his own teammate Mads Pedersen. The 22-year old also finished on the podium of the Tour of Holland, finishing third and second in the prologue and time trial respectively.

But Soderqvist is also a classics rider in the making, finishing second at the under-23 Paris-Roubaix behind only Albert Philipsen, his teammate. And this is where he intends to evolve the most in the coming years, and we could see it as soon as this spring.

I try not to think too much about it, but in the end I think I want to take a bit of responsibility for it. At the moment I'm the only ambassador we have on this world tour as a rider. It's really a small sport for the moment. I think it was bigger back in the day, but then it got a bit forgotten. So my hope is to bring it up a bit more in videos and try to put light on it again and eventually be on the races that Swedes are liking to watch in the summer. I think it would mean a lot to me if I was part of building this sport again, since I enjoy it quite a lot myself.

It's always hard to find a reason. I always think it's just a series of reasons or a trend. In Sweden, the thing closest to our hearts when it comes to endurance sports is probably cross-country skiing. Of course, it's similar to what cycling is in Belgium, for example, where we always just keep on living because of the history. I think cycling was bigger before, maybe because people were happier to go out on the bike or that we actually had riders on the bigger scene. That was part of doing the biggest races. We had some guys doing big results in big races.

Now, it's probably 40 years ago. The latest was Magnus Bäckstedt in Roubaix, of course. But it has only been a few times now and again in the later years. Then I think it slipped out of the general media and the general attention, because now people don't even think you can be a professional at all.

I think it's nice to have them around, because it's the closest to home I will get in the sport. Scandinavians will always feel more close to us. We recognize each other and we have a similar culture and everything like that. Also, the language is reasonable for me to learn, compared to most other languages spoken, except English. It's something I'm trying to develop also, so I can feel more at home and part of some group that doesn't just speak English.

In cycling, I think none of us looked at it as a rivalry for some time, since we didn't really compete the last years. But for sure, it would be nice to bring it back a bit.

I think for me, I wasn't studying the history of cycling in Sweden closely. I came from mountain biking, switched quite late when I was 20. And since then, the knowledge of the road is also a bit compromised. But now it's the big results or memories that some people have in Sweden from earlier days. I've learned them now, most of them. But I'm really just trying to be my own in everything. I'm not trying to look at it as anything bigger than it is.

I'm trying to just do my thing really, because it's the only thing I really can affect. And if I'm happy to continue with cycling and think it's exciting, then it will probably exceed and even develop into something even bigger. And that's the best way I can contribute to creating a new wave for the sport.

I think I'll know a lot more about my profile after this season. Of course, the time trial will always be there in my career, I think, as a specialty. But today it really sticks out, because I think it was quite natural for me to develop this skill. Coming from a mountain bike, it's a similar way of thinking about it. It's just a different bike, different challenges, but a similar way of developing the speed, the momentum, everything. So I found a really good level there.

But something that I think takes a lot longer is to reach the best classics rider I could be. Because this takes a lot more experience. Learning the peloton that you're riding with, learning riders, learning courses, learning conditions and the culture behind it... Also, they are often quite long events, which also brings an advantage with having done more miles before. I think this is the biggest project I will have in my career. I would guess at this point that to try and become the best rider I can be in the classics, I will probably finish last out of every project I could have in cycling. And then with time trials could come good results in GCs, in stage races. As you said, like one week races even. And that depends a bit on how my body develops and how allowing it is for me to maybe be a bit more slim than I am today. It's many, many factors, but only time can tell if it's really meant to be.

I don't even have a really definite schedule myself. Of course, it's a lot of talks still, because it's so many factors taken into account. But we are looking a lot towards the classics and trying to get really the best preparation for it. Probably going to do a couple of stage races before that, similar to this season really. I think it will be more or less a copy of the spring program, only we bring it up one step and we don't do the different three races. We maybe even do the big ones.

Of course, he's taken really big steps in performance and grown in capacity for every year. And really found a way of contributing a lot to the team, together with Mads in the Giro for example. For me, I'm always trying to think out of my own and look at my own potential, my own ability to develop. I wouldn't say that I look at riders like that in general. But of course, it's an example of someone that has a lot of ambition and always keeps going and doesn't really doubt himself. Which is really impressive when you have all the light on yourself.

Something that we have considered, but this is the thing that we are most unsure about at the moment. It has many, many factors and depends on the condition when you come close to it. Whatever fits the best with how the preparation should look. What other riders are really feeling for the team going there and so on. We have many riders on a good level at this point and the long list for every Grand Tour is quite big. If it's the right moment for me to do my Grand Tour, depends on many, many other factors of course. It's something that we don't rush to take a decision about. But the chances are for sure not zero and for sure not different.

I got to know him as soon as I joined the team. Since he was supported early as a junior. He came to our training camps and really he has been a massive talent since the start. For me it was just nice getting to know him. Because still with almost every young rider you encounter in this environment you recognize yourself. Just from the personality itself and priorities or expectations or nerves or whatever. You really recognize yourself in many ways.

I've always thought it's nice to be around guys like these that are really excited about it also. To just keep that energy about it also. And maybe not the ones that more or less go to work in the stages or whatever. You have every example in every team I think. But for me the relationship developed over time and grew. It's probably still growing. We are both really happy to see each other succeed.

For me it's the perfect scenario really. Because in the end of the day we really fight for big results. It's super important for the team, sponsors, relationship, budget, future plan. It's always the goal to succeed and to win. But in the end for me I really try to think out of the team perspective. We already did the perfect job when we came into the Velodrome. I was super proud of everything I contributed to the team.

If we sprinted again against each other and I managed to win the sprint it wouldn't be any different than winning against him on training day. I wouldn't say. Then it's just what's left after this weekend. It's only a number. It's only a 1 or a 2 on the paper. It's really the memory that you look back on and smile about. I thought the memory was one of the nicest I have in cycling. From this weekend really. Just showing that we are one team. This is something that I'm really proud of.

I think for me I was always obsessed with trying to become my best mountain biker and cross-country rider. It was only that it wasn't really what fitted me the best. It was when I jumped on a time trial bike and a road bike that I realized what I'm really good for. I cannot tell you anything else than that it was always supernatural for me the type of effort that a time trial is. For me it was always good carrying momentum and going through the start-finish straight on the cross-country course. Just trying to find momentum and rhythm because sharper turns and accelerations and steep climbs aren't really for my body type.

Finding the momentum everywhere was always something I developed through young years. It took a while before I stumbled upon a time trial bike and competed at the national championships and realized that this is actually something that I'm probably quite good at. It's probably a lot better than mountain biking even if I worked for developing in that sport for all the years before.

Yeah, for sure. I'm really confident in my bike handling and also just reaction. The vision, learning the peloton is a different thing. You have to relearn it or learn it from the beginning. But it's not so far from also finding the smoothest line in the forest. I think really everything is about being efficient and saving energy. It's just different obstacles on a mountain bike or in a road race. I think it's a similar way of cognitive thinking about it.

Only that it's two different challenges or two different languages that you just have to learn anew.

I think Roubaix would be more natural. But for sure almost all coupled classics would be in the objective for the future. And if I have the role in the team to be the one that tries to win the race, then I'm super thankful and I will try to do the best with that opportunity. And probably at that point I will also believe quite a lot in that I'm capable of doing it.

But before this I just have to see. I'm pretty confident about Roubaix and that I eventually would try to get that title in the elites. But in Flanders, E3, the other big coupled classics, Gent [Wevelgem], I'm trying to shape my riding to be more compatible with it. And I think I'm not too far away at the moment. But if it ever comes as natural as Roubaix, I don't know.