Who?

Tim ‘Willem’ Ariesen. Dutchie, Dreamer.

What about him?

Tim made a good impression during the 2015 season. Winning U23 races, finishing top 5 among the pros. Nice project!

How did he perform?

We realized we had to grow his engine, so we gave him a race-heavy program and a great workload. Even more important, we had to turn Tim into a real bike rider. He had often no idea about what he was doing. So it was a matter of pure development and a challenge for our staff.

His problem on the bike was to become and stay consistent. He had great moments and the expectations were really high, so it was hard to always live up to that. Finishing second behind Fabio at the Dutch Championships was a real highlight. Still, it seemed more like lost title for Tim than a silver medal he had won. Nevertheless, Tim made great steps in his development on and off the bike.

What was next after the Academy?

We told him during the season: you have one chance to make it to the pros and that’s by getting a spot in the Dutch Pro Continental team Roompot-Oranje Peloton. During the season there was plenty of contact between Roompot’s staff and our performance team. We kept them up-to-date on Tim’s progress and potential. After one and a half years wearing the orange get up, Ariesen decided to take on a new chance and signed for the Chinese-based Ningxia Sports – Lottery, an interesting project with a lot of growing potential which he rode for another year and a half. After that experience, Tim decided to pause his cycling career.