Son of Olympian extends stay with Visma | Lease a Bike: "I’d only done five road races in total"

Hoydahl Senior is from the Bart Brentjens generation and was one of the greats of that era. In 1995, one year before Dutchman Brentjens made history in Atlanta by becoming the first ever Olympic mountain biking champion, the Norwegian won five World Cups in a row: from Cairns (Australia) to Madrid (Spain) and from Mt. Snow (United States) to Houffalize (Belgium).

A year later, he finished eleventh at the Games, and he also competed in Sydney in 2000. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, although his son Jonas mainly rides on the road. He laughs when we ask him about the comparison. "My father was a professional mountain biker back in the day. But he also rode quite a lot on the road, for example, in the Netherlands.

“I live in Sande, near Oslo. My father has set up a kind of mountain biking community there, so I've known nothing but mountain bikers around me since I was young,” explains the youngster.

“So I also started cycling at a young age, although until two years ago, that was on a mountain bike. Then I made the switch to road cycling because I joined the Visma | Lease a Bike U23 team,” explains the Norwegian. “At that point, I had only ridden a few national road races, but that was no more than five in total.”

“The team approached me because I was riding Zwift races, and of course, through my father, I had some good contacts. I was asked if I wanted to join the training camp, and after that, they offered me a contract,” says Hoydahl, who is riding his first stage race for the team's main squad in the Tour of Holland.

“In the first year, it was sometimes difficult to learn everything. The transition from mountain biking to road cycling is not easy, especially because it is an individual sport. But this year is going a lot better. And I'm still learning,” he says logically. “Menno Huising, who is a really nice guy, helped me a lot last year, for example, and so did Darren van Bekkum, who now rides for Astana.”

“Now I really enjoy road cycling. And I have to say: the more I do it, the better I get at it. I really like the team spirit, and I enjoy the classic races, the races with some action, the most,” says Hoydahl, whose contract was recently extended until next year.

“Jonas is an all-rounder and a truly loyal soldier of ours, next year for the third year in a row,” said Head of Development Robbert de Groot at the announcement. “Don't forget that as a junior mountain biker, he had hardly ever raced on the road. He has made enormous strides with us, and we think he has even more potential.”

“My long-term ambition is to become a pro,” Hoydahl himself added at the start of the Limburg stage in the Tour of Holland. “Hopefully, I can take another step and eventually reach the WorldTour. But for now, I'm still in my place with the U23 team, where the overall vibe is really good and we also have a great program.”