After getting into the sport of cycling as a seven year old at a youth camp where he cycled every day, Piet continued his progression to join the professional ranks where he eventually joined the team (known as Skil-Shimano then) between 2006 and 2010.
After his pro career, Piet worked in the accounting industry, expanding his club team towards UCI Continental level as a hobby. One of its first members back in 2006, Piet rejoined the team as the newly appointed R&D expert in 2019 to aid managing technical research and development projects.
“I was one of the team’s first members in the current structure with Iwan [Spekenbrink] starting as general manager in 2009, and it’s good to work in familiar territory.”
An eye for detail, Piet loves focusing on the things that “can really make our riders go faster” and enjoys the collaboration with all of the team’s other experts and seeing that come to fruition out on the road. His personal favourite highlight was Søren Kragh Andersen’s 2020 TT win at the BinckBank Tour where “several goals” came together to achieve that result.
Looking ahead, Piet wants to continue to help the team progress and developing as much as possible to reach the next set of goals. That could be by finding a way to save weight on the bike, improve the aerodynamics or even comfort – Piet just wants to achieve the most with the resources available.
