Having spent his whole career so far riding in Dutch teams, the Tilburg-native Timo continues that trend as a fresh face to the team in 2024.
Coming from an active family, his father used to ride recreationally while his mother was a runner, but it was Timo’s older brother Sjors who inspired him to get into the sport in a more competitive sense, and he started racing at 12 years old, following in his brother’s footsteps. Before that, like a lot of kids he followed the sport on TV and would watch the Tour with his dad. Timo did also try his hand at ice skating (something which he still likes to do to this day), football and a bit of judo but cycling was the thing that stood out for him.
“I love the tactics of cycling. I find it really interesting that from the outside and for those who don’t follow the sport, it always seems like a big mess at times, but the tactics are important to winning. I also like the physical part and to get everything out of yourself with good preparation to be the best version of yourself you can be.”
With four professional wins to his name so far in his career, Timo believes that the change of environment will be a good catalyst for him and that the team’s ambitions and his align well and “fit who I am as a person.”
“I’ll focus mainly on the sprint group which is a bit of a change to my previous roles, but I’m really motivated for that.”
Bringing his wealth of experience from his nine years as a pro so far, Timo is also excited to share that with the younger guys in the sprint group where he aims to “help as much as he can” but he also wants to take the change as an opportunity to learn from them too, alongside everyone else around him.
Timo describs himself as a “hard-worker”, “team-player” and “loyal” person. It is evident when speaking to him that he wears his heart on his sleeve, but he is also someone who knows his worth and what qualities he brings to the group on and off the bike; wanting to “give full commitment to the team and each of the guys.”
Ever insightful, Timo takes a learned and wise approach to a sport which can often be fickle, where one team and rider out of a 180-rider strong peloton wins at the end of the day.
“Sometimes cycling doesn’t go well and you can often have more bad days than good days, if you look only at top results, so it is important to learn from each day and be better next time.”
When he’s not getting all philosophical, Timo likes spending his downtime being outside and enjoying nature or getting his blades on and hitting the local skating rink. If you’re also lucky you might spot him honing his juggling skills, which are his party trick, or tucking into his favourite dish – a Flemish classic called Waterzooi – but on the one condition that it is cooked by his mother.