500 words about January

It’s been a busy month for everyone in the team with our January Team Camps and the successful season kick-off Down Under. Read up here on our best bits in no more than 500 words. A lot harder to do than it sounds…

The foundations to be ready for racing are laid in individual training, and in our two Team Camps in December and January. Across all departments, there are numerous preparations to be made ahead of those camps.

“Last year we started working on nice plans to continue and improve our way of working, setting new overall team goals with our performance team for all of our riders. When we arrived in Spain for our Team Camps, everyone was really motivated to turn those plans into reality. There was a good atmosphere full of enthusiasm not only amongst the riders, but also staff”, said Team dsm-firmenich PostNL head coach Rudi Kemna, reflecting on the January Team Camp.

While most of the team put their final touches to the preparations in our Team Camp in Calpe, Spain, a selection started their season in the Australian summer. Our line-up for the Women’s and Men’s programs travelled to the other side of the world, to showcase our new colours in multiple races in Australia.

The Women’s program kicked off with their edition of the Tour Down Under and it was a season start to be proud of. Francesca Barale sprinted to two top 10 results in the first two days and led the young riders’ classification going into the Queen stage, which concluded on Willunga Hill. The team did an amazing job bringing Nienke into a strong position; she finished it off taking second on both the stage,  GC and winning the young riders classification. The whole team were also rewarded with a win in the team’s classification – concluding the week smiling all together on the podium.

The Men’s program also had a great start at Tour Down Under. Once again, the climb onto Willunga Hill was a place for the team to shine. Oscar Onley rode a really clever final after being brought into a good position by his teammates. On the final metres, he showed the best punch of what was left of the leading group and took home his first professional win and the first in the team’s new look as Team dsm-firmenich PostNL.

A little more than one week later, Casper van Uden did the same by winning the opening stage of the AlUla Tour after a great lead out by his teammates.

“It was really nice to see our plans turning into reality in Australia. For the Women’s program the good teamwork led to a nice GC result with Nienke and the win of the team classification. And for the Men’s program the good preparations and nice teamwork paid off with Oscar’s and Casper’s wins. Unfortunately, Oscar broke his collarbone after a crash in Australia, but we wish him the best for his recovery and hope to have him back soon.”, Rudi Kemna looked back on the Australian races.

It was a great start to 2024 for Team dsm-firmenich PostNL and we hope to show more of this at our next races.