Thijs Zonneveld becomes "the Merijn Zeeman of BEAT Cycling" and shoots for Grand Tour participation in foreseeable future

BEAT Cycling is a name that resonates in Dutch community. However the continental team has gradually fallen into mediocrity and so the goal for the new sports manager Thijs Zonneveld is clear - to put the Dutch team at the top of the continental feeding chain. And who knows, maybe more?

"I was a cyclist for BEAT until December 31 and secretly I have been working as a sports director for three weeks now. The Merijn Zeeman of BEAT. I am ultimately responsible for the sporting success, or the sporting failure," he reveals In his podcast In het Wiel.

Zonneveld does know that his task won't be easy, because BEAT Cycling had better years in the past. "We are in 174th place on the UCI rankings. That is not good. We have to catch up in a sporting way. The ambition is to go from 174th place to fifty in the foreseeable future. Then you are competing with the big boys and you are eligible to participate in the bigger races. Then the dreaming starts."

And so the former gravel and beach race specialist dreams of the biggest. "We want to go to the Tour de France within a few years, or otherwise the Giro d'Italia. We will first have to perform as well as possible on a continental level to then become ProTeam. Within two or three years is ambitious, but I think it is possible. When you can start competing in the big races, then you add another two years for that dot on the horizon."

Compared to other managers at the continental scene, Zonneveld has several aces up his sleeve. "I have experienced things up close for 25 years, and I am aware of many things in cycling. I also bring a network with me, because I know many people in the sport. And what is very useful for the riders: I rode among them myself until recently. That way I can put myself in their shoes and I know what needs to be improved."