Thijs Zonneveld on becoming a UCI board member one day: "UCI seems like hell to me... They are so far removed from the sport"

Thijs Zonneveld is currently a journalist, analyst and rider, but he also does not rule out a management position in the future. While UCI seems too much of a black box to him at the moment, there's a ray of hope that maybe in future, he might be able to initiate a change from within.

WielerRevue spoke with Zonneveld about the UCI and his own ambitions to become a board member one day. "The UCI seems like hell to me. Before I would get in there, I would first have to gain some patience somewhere... That is the sad thing in almost every sports association."

Zonneveld feels like to achieve anything, you need to be someone very powerful, someone a regular sportsmen can hardly ever become. "The bigger the sports association, the more power managers there are at the top. People who have nothing to do with the sport itself. People in halls who have absolutely nothing to do with that one newcomer who wonders whether he should continue with the sport."

Heavy bureaucracy and so many formal procedures, Zonneveld finds it hard to find his place in the organization at the moment: "They are so far removed from the sport, which makes it difficult for me to hold my own there. That is where it often goes wrong, that people with a passion for the sport drop out."

For now, the Dutchman will stick to what he knows best - his virtual pen and piece of paper - and continue to propose changes through open media. "I wouldn't just jump in, but I do believe in participatory journalism. That's why I race, that's why I organised Veenendaal-Veenendaal in the past. I think you sometimes have to step out of your ivory tower to experience what it's like to have your feet in the clay."