The roadmap of my career isn’t the usual one. After being with Giant-Shimano/Giant-Alpecin for 1.5 years I lost the passion for cycling. I wasn’t having fun anymore and was struggling with myself.
I made the decision to quit cycling and to start a social career. I had a lot of talks and doubts but came to this decision. But, after studying for 1.5 years, I found that I was acting exactly the same as I did when I was a professional cyclist.
I was running away from the things I love doing instead of tackling the problems head-on. I was taking things way too seriously. I was scared of failing which made it hard for me to relax and enjoy the moment.
I went to Italy on holiday with a friend. That’s when I realised that being a professional cyclist is something I actually really love. We did long rides in crazy weather (a lot of rain and cold) in the Italian Alps. A comeback in cycling is what I really wanted.
I started racing with my local club, De Jonge Renner, then something unbelievable happened. Team LottoNL-Jumbo offered me a contract. I was surprised, honoured and happy.
After retiring in 2015, Daan returned to the sport last year – photo Carla Vos/Cor Vos © 2017
Losing the fun of cycling is one of the biggest setbacks in my career so far, but it also taught me a lot. I saw how the ‘real world’ looked away from professional sports and I experienced the life of a student, something I don’t regret.
Losing the fun of cycling isn’t something that happens immediately. It was a build up that started with my compensation behaviour. As I mentioned, I’m scared to fail. I didn’t want to race badly and let the team down.
I started racing with my local club, De Jonge Renner, then something unbelievable happened. Team LottoNL-Jumbo offered me a contract.
So by training and working harder, I thought I could avoid failure because as a young rider you think more is always better. Of course, I know that isn’t true at all, but there’s always a difference between knowing and acting.
Right now, I’ve had another setback in my career, crashing in only my second race of the season in Australia.
It happened in the criterium on the F1 circuit in Melbourne. Starting the season with a fracture in my knee and one in my foot is definitely not good.
Watching the race in Geelong was super hard for me. I went to the start and watched the race in a coffee shop. Moments like these make me realise how much I like to race or to ride a bike. Not being able to do what you love makes me frustrated but also eager to come back as soon as possible.
The only way is way up. So I have to make new goals for myself, like becoming healthy again, being able to ride a bike again, being able to race and finally be better then I was before.
I have to take the positives from this crash. A lot of colleagues were telling me that a crash like this made them better afterwards, maybe because they are more eager than ever before, or maybe because you’re forced to rest during the injury. We’ll see what I can tell you within a few months but the eagerness is already there.
I have great support from very good friends, my mom, dad and stepfather, and of course the riders and staff of my team, Team LottoNL-Jumbo who are giving me tons of support. I’m very thankful and they’re making this time much easier.
