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Dutch Pros

2K views 6 replies 7 participants last post by  blackfrancois 
#1 ·
I'm curious as to why the Dutch seem to be so good in a lot of Pro races, especially the women?
 
#2 · (Edited)
Same reason most NFL players are Americans. The sport is super popular, everyone rides a bike, pro bike racing is widely broadcast and followed there. The dutch never sneered at their neighbours for putting on lycra and going for a bike ride in the country, like they did/do in north america.

Also popular winter sport there is speed skating, which the general populace has done on the innumerable canals for centuries in the Netherlands. And starting in the 80s and 90s the Dutch put their biggest emphasis on speed skating racing becoming the most dominant nation in this sport by a huge margin today. And it is a sport that meshes perfectly with competitive cycling. Many olympic medalist speed skaters, also have medals in Olympic cycling. Caveat - I do not know of many men on the pro circuit who came from speed skating, however.
 
#4 ·
B

Voss came over from speedskating. Distance skating is so similar to cycling... Eric Heiden always liked cycling better and he was damn good at it after his speedskating career. He is now an ortho and in practice now with Max Testa. I love both sports!!

“Heiden, who rode in the 1986 Tour de France with the 7-Eleven team and competed as a pro for seven seasons.”
 
#5 ·
I’ll also add they start racing competitively really young. Their youth cycling is like our youth soccer, little league, and youth football. It’s what a lot people grow up doing as a kid whether they become pros or not. I met a guy on the train into work that used to work for Sukarno and lived in Europe. He raved about the riding and racing in the Netherlands.
 
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