Marten Kooistra is getting the miles in ahead of his third season with the Academy. The young Dutchman joined the team in 2016 and last season showed himself as a bike rider as he placed 8th overall in the Olympia’s Tour overall classification.

Currently in Spain, where he can keep up with his 2018 preparations under a shining sun, Kooistra feels ready and prepared for the coming challenge. “I am feeling really good. I just had a good period of rest and recently I started fresh again. The intensity of the training sessions is growing, with some good ones at home and now in Spain. All in all I am excited and really looking forward to the coming season”.

The 20-year old, who in 2015 claimed the double crown in the Junior Dutch Nationals after winning the time trial as well as the road race titles, sets the bar high for 2018. “My personal goals will be to win races and to improve in every single training session and race that I do. I am in the right place and with the needed environment to make it count and get stronger everyday”.

In the past two seasons with the team, Marten has shown that he is able to ride strong in a wide variety of terrains, from one-day races to time-trials and week-long events. Far away for being satisfied with that, the talented Dutchman feels like there is room from improvement. “If I want to win races I have to keep improving. One of the things that I will focus on is my sprint. I am not talking about bunch sprints, but I want to be the guy who after a hard race can still push some extra power and be the fastest of a reduced group”.