Jumbo-Visma team signs Olympic skating champion Carlijn Achtereekte

She prefers ice cream. After having successfully poached the ski jumper Primoz Roglic, the Jumbo-Visma formation has set its sights on another athlete who came from the cold in the person of the skater Carlijn Achtereekte. Olympic champion in the 3,000 meters in Pyeongchang in 2018, the 32-year-old Dutchwoman will join the ranks of the cycling team from June 1.

“I’ve always had a passion for cycling. Sometimes I thought to myself, why don’t I do this? But it went well in skating and I focused on that, explains Achtereekte on the team’s website, which is familiar to her since she was already under contract with Jumbo-Visma as a skater. Now I have the chance to become a professional cyclist and I am very grateful. I am impatient and ambitious. »

“There is work to be done on a technical and tactical level”, recognizes Esra Tromp, team manager, but “Carlijn breathes high-level sport”, she underlines. Achtereekte, whose contract as a skater ended in April, will participate in the team’s training camp from Wednesday and will line up in small races to take cues. It is already planned that she will start the road race of the Dutch Championships on June 25.