Esmée Peperkamp

Now into her third year with Team DSM, Esmée has continued to make steps year-on-year, growing both as a rider and a person. 2022 saw Esmée’s level develop even further, with rides in a strong support role helping the team to ten wins, while she also took some solid results herself too, such as third in the Baloise Ladies Tour prologue and 11^th place on GC at the same race, plus 11^th overall at the Tour of Scandinavia.

Coming into the sport later in life, Esmée watched her mum and dad ride for fun and got a bike to keep fit and as a hobby to do. While she was studying for her chemistry degree in Nijmegen, Esmée found herself not enjoying the daily train journey so instead made the 40 kilometre or so trip by bike.

Leaving early in the morning to avoid any rush, she fell more and more in love with the sport and soon joined the student club. From there she fully “caught the cycling bug” and did more and more racing, eventually joining a club team before making the step to Team DSM. That first year with the team [2021] was “really strange” for Esmée, as “everyone was already so used to the world of cycling” while she “was just like ‘woah’, at all of the new things” she was learning.

Developing more as a rider throughout that time, Esmée has gained more confidence riding in the bunch with the help of the team, something that she admits she struggled with initially, but now she is confident with fighting and holding her place. More than that, Esmée has proven to be a brilliant teammate who always gives her all, reflecting on Itzulia and Flèche Wallonne as two of her best races.

“At Itzulia I did so much work, keeping the team safe in GC and closing gap. Afterwards I could still come back and push again which was super nice. Then at Flèche it was similar, I had already done my job, but a break went that I got into, and it almost made it to the line. It was cool to be up there, but I really had to push myself over the finish that day – the Mur is as steep as it looks!”

With her dogged determination and attitude, Esmée looks up to Annemiek van Vleuten as an idol in the sport, who herself came into the sport a bit later. It’s clear when speaking to her, that Esmée is someone who knows what she wants and is driven to do everything she can to achieve those goals.

“As I started cycling later, I know that there is still a lot that I can improve on, and things have been going in a really good way with the team so far. I want to keep pushing and challenging myself every day to be the best I can be.”

Stepping away from her life on the bike, she is a social person who likes spending time outside either going on long walks or runs with her dog. Equally, Esmée finds herself at home in the kitchen and enjoys cooking for friends and family, while in the evening she likes getting her nose stuck into a good book; whether that be fiction or non-fiction – anything is good for her. Or if you’re lucky, you might even catch her practicing her unicycle skills.