While many cycling teams visit the sunny south during this period, the squad of head of development Robbert de Groot chooses to prepare in the snow.

“In the context of talent development, we believe it is important to provide riders with a broad training course, in which a variety of training stimuli is central”, De Groot says. “On the bike, the riders already have enough variety. Think of cross training, mountain bike training, road training and time trial training. Just like cycling, cross-country skiing is a tough endurance sport. During cross-country skiing, the riders will find themselves on difficult terrain over a long distance. This involves more muscles than just the leg muscles. With this we hope to give an extra impulse to the shape of the riders. In addition to cross-country skiing, there is also daily training in the gym.”

De Groot does not neglect the aspect of team building either: “Cross-country skiing in Norway is new to everyone. That makes it exciting and instructive. It is important that we all put our shoulders to the wheel to achieve a joint performance.”