Mick van Dijke starts Spring 2026 with a ‘tuned engine’, rebuilt shoulder and plenty of motivation

Van Dijke joined the German squad together with his brother Tim after leaving Visma | Lease a Bike, where the pair made a strong impression in the spring and in lead-out work for Olav Kooij. At their new team — where major investment followed Red Bull’s arrival — they became part of a powerful classics group that, from the outside, did not quite deliver what many expected in 2025.

One plus one does not always equal two straight away, the smart, hard-riding Dutchman knows. “When you ride for a team like Red Bull, a lot of people look at it like PlayStation: so much extra budget, Laurence Pithie, Oier Lazkano, Jan Tratnik and the Van Dijkes coming in — so it must get better,” he says. “But there’s a human side to it as well.”

“A number of guys were brought in to ride results, and from the start it was clear that Tim and I would get the time and calm to develop,” explains Van Dijke, still only 25. “We weren’t the guys who had to deliver results, but because of circumstances we ended up becoming that anyway.”

Heading into 2025, feedback was coming in both directions. “This team is super professional, but some departments could communicate better with each other. If we improve that, we hope to be on the right side of the medal more often. In Flanders we can’t go with Van der Poel and Pogacar — and that’s no disgrace. But we don’t compare ourselves to them. We have our own path.”

“We’re genuinely appreciated and we’ve received very positive feedback — just like we were able to give our own feedback internally after last year,” Van Dijke continues. “Now we’re going to the classics with a very different — and broader — team, without a real designated leader. Whoever is best, that’s who we’ll ride for. If Laurence is better, I’ll work for him. I did that in the Tour of Flanders too, where he finished 11th.”

Pithie is a good example of that idea. The New Zealander announced himself in 2024, but couldn’t maintain that line at his new team, partly due to repeated bad luck. “Laurence is a really good teammate, and his crashes might be one area that can improve,” Van Dijke says. “I hope this year we can be there with all those guys and build on each other, and then hopefully ride podiums in big races.”

Van Dijke also thinks the Van Dijkes’ 2025 programme should not be underestimated. “I only raced WorldTour, and then you meet the very best riders in the world, so you have to be the best or the smartest yourself. If you saw Tim in Omloop… he was right there with the best. In the end you finish 18th, but it could just as easily have been the podium. How different would things look then? The same goes for Roubaix, where he punctured at the wrong moment.”

This year, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe will also ride more semi-classics, and that could mean more chances for the Zeeland hardmen. “I’d actually like to race a few more ProSeries-level races too, to be able to ride those finales,” he says. “In cycling, so much depends on confidence, and you can build that in those races — which can then become a lever for the WorldTour.”

Experience has been added with Gianni Vermeersch, while there have also been several changes within the German team’s staff. What do the Van Dijkes notice? “I already had Marc Lamberts as my coach and that works fantastically,” Van Dijke explains. “What I like is the human side. He doesn’t only ask about training — he’ll call to ask how I’m doing, just in general. Sven Vanthourenhout has now been added to my circle as a coach and I clicked with him straight away. Marc and Sven know each other really well too, and that works great.”

“Rob van de Werf is my new nutritionist as well,” he continues. “That’s funny, because back when I still mountain biked, he was my first nutritionist. I’m really happy about it, because I know how professionally he works. It’s a German team, but when I see how many Belgians and Dutch guys there are… it makes certain things a bit easier. I’ve also had plenty of chats with Remco — genuinely a good guy.”

2025 was special for Van Dijke anyway, as he made his Grand Tour debut — straight into the Tour de France — and there he saw both sides of the sport. “On day five I was crying on the bike, because I genuinely thought: I have to abandon,” he says. “That thought hurt a lot — even more than my tailbone at that moment. But on the day we averaged 56 kilometres per hour into Mur-de-Bretagne, I hit a peak of 800 watts.

“I was going into every corner 30 metres behind, and then you do feel alone — even in a Tour de France. But I had to get to Paris, because I’d sworn that to myself.” And when Van Dijke’s stubborn head wants something, it usually happens. “I had a really good final week, with that long pull on Mont Ventoux, and that made me feel like I truly contributed to that third place,” he says. “The team gave me credit for that as well.”

Many riders say the Tour gives you a better base. Does Van Dijke already feel that heading into 2026? “I combined the Tour with two altitude camps and the Dauphiné, which is insanely hard,” he explains. “All of that has ‘tuned the engine’ again, so to speak. I keep making steps, and my fatigue resistance — to put it in English — has improved. That gives me morale and motivation for this season. “I hope I can take that into the spring, but ask me again after Roubaix, haha.”

Unfortunately, things went wrong about six weeks after the Tour, when Van Dijke crashed hard during a training ride. He takes us back to that day. “Yeah… I was a bit tired and didn’t really feel like training,” he says. “I rode to a lunch with my mum to break up the day a bit. On my own training roads, tailwind, decent speed — I hit a root while I was drinking, and I lost it immediately.”

“I’ve never broken anything in my life, but I could tell straight away it was my collarbone,” Van Dijke explains. “It hurt a lot, and it turned out the fracture ran through to my shoulder blade. I was in real trouble. It was a complicated fracture — with a piece shattered — and then you know it takes time. They did a great job with screws and steel wire in Herentals, so I can’t complain.”

“With a shoulder like that, you can’t mess around, so I knew straight away the season was over,” he continues. “I struggled watching the races I would have done, because I could see my own work in it. On the other hand, I also felt mentally tired after the Tour, where I had to go very deep after that crash. Luckily I recovered from it, but it cost a lot of energy.”

Van Dijke then did nothing for two months. While injured riders sometimes choose to start the next season earlier, he is not doing that. “I wanted the shoulder to heal properly and I’m choosing a normal build-up, with a good winter,” he says. “Otherwise you just get that bill earlier.”

That meant the off-season had room for fun rather than a rushed rehab. “We were welcomed in Curaçao by a really nice organisation and we went mountain biking,” Van Dijke says. “I’d obviously crashed hard on my shoulder, so it was a bit tricky and I didn’t do a race. If I’d crashed there, my whole winter would have been ruined.”

“We mountain biked with the kids, checked out the trails — and with our background in mountain biking, that’s perfect,” he adds. “The family came too and it was just really fun. I was replaced by Hannah van Boven, Tim’s girlfriend, who used to ride as well, and together they won the 50 kilometres.”

After reading all this, one thing is clear: the Van Dijkes are fully motivated for what’s coming in 2026. “We’re still making steps and following our path,” Mick concludes. “The things that went wrong last year, we’re going to do better now. I’m sure of it. The dream of one day winning Roubaix is still alive.” And there’s no reason that dream should fade any time soon.