Monday, April 21, 2025

Tag: Dutch Races

Bas Tietema – “Continental level is not our final destination”

There are many ways to become a professional cyclist, but Dutchman Bas Tietema must be unique in his path; come up through the ranks, start a YouTube channel, get a contract with a Belgian Conti team, then start your own team. We had to find out more.

Zak Coleman – Playing the Team Game with VolkerWessels

VeloVeritas soothsayer and mentor has been on to me for a while; ‘you should be speaking to that Zak Coleman laddie, he’s on the VolkerWessels team in The Netherlands, that’s a top team and he’s the only non-Dutch boy on it! They ride a lot of the UCI European Tour races, the likes of the Baloise Belgian Tour.’

Steve Beech remembers Grant Thomas

Steve Beech sent us in his memories of his friend Grant Thomas and his ‘Golden Era’, the 70’s. Whilst he’s perhaps best remembered for winning the British Championship, his greatest triumphs came in The Netherlands – on road and track.

Theo de Rooij – One of the World’s Best Pro Riders and Directeur Sportifs

He had a stellar amateur career in a Golden Era for Netherlands Cycling; rode for four of the sport’s most famous teams – Ijsboerke, Capri Sonne, Raleigh and Panasonic; was a highly successful team manager and is still deeply involved with the sport he loves. VeloVeritas is delighted to be able to bring you the thoughts of Mr. Theo de Rooij.

Alex Wetterhall – Ronde van Drenthe 2013 Winner

It’s been a grim spring for pro bike racing; Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Nokere Koerse had to be cancelled due to foul weather and Sunday’s Milano-Sanremo was compromised by snow. One recent race featuring Alex Wetterhall which did go ahead despite savage climatic conditions was the UCI 1.1 196 kilometre Ronde van Drenthe in The Netherlands.

At Random

Jack Thompson – Ultracyclist!

It’s not every rider who wants to be part of a peloton, face a timekeeper or circle the boards. Some simply want to challenge themselves. Professional Australian athlete Jack Thompson falls into that category, albeit he’s set records along the way.

The VV View – All Set Up and No Race to Watch

It’s a fair old trek from Manchester to Fife after there was no race to watch, so what else was I going to do as I sat in the passenger seat but RANT! Let’s start with the only topic in town: Corona Virus and me...

Jack Bauer – New Zealand’s new Elite Road Champion

It was Vik (who else?) first spotted the man; 'there's a New Zealand rider winning a lot of races for Kingsnorth Wheelers in Flanders just now, you should get hold of him!' he told me, last summer. We duly tracked down Jack Bauer and have been keeping an eye on him and talking to him, ever since.

Brent Emery – US Olympic Silver Medallist

Following on from his article on the US bikes at the Los Angeles Olympic Games of 1984, Ed Hood spoke the rider who not only rode as part of the team pursuit and was behind the bike design: Brent Emery – Rider and innovator.

Mike McCarthy – World Champion on “carrots and peas”

Continuing our series of pre-Track Worlds interviews with riders who came from the 'left field' of the velodrome, in this second part we talk to Mike McCarthy. Mike didn't quite come from nowhere to win the 1992 World Professional Pursuit Championship but certainly shocked the world of the Euro Pros to take what was arguably then, the most prestigious of all the track titles.

Scottish 10 Mile TT Championships 2019 goes to Kyle Gordon

On a raw morning of bitter north westerly winds, with a grey Firth of Tay and North Sea brooding to the south, Kyle Gordon (RT 23) produced a ride just nine seconds shy of 30 mph to win the Scottish 10 Mile TT Championships 2019 from Bioracer-Moriarty Bikes duo, second placed Jamie Davidson and bronze medallist, David Griffiths; seven and 18 seconds back, respectively.