Antwan Tolhoek has no new team yet: "It sucks, because I know that I am a good rider"

Antwan Tolhoek was once considered one of the Netherlands' greatest cycling talents. The son of former pro Patrick Tolhoek has faced quite a bit of misfortune throughout his career, which has been characterized by many ups and downs. This has partly resulted in him being without a team for next year - at least for now. IDLProCycling.com spoke to the unlucky rider in France, prior to the Bretagne Classic - Ouest-France.

In the summer of 2016, 'rising star' Tolhoek was sitting in my living room, eating his sandwiches, before we embarked on a training ride through the West-Brabant landscape together. The top talent from Roompot spoke openly about his (cycling) life and had the cycling world at his feet, which soon manifested itself in five years with the successful Team LottoNL-Jumbo (now Jumbo-Visma), followed by a period with Trek-Segafredo (now Lidl-Trek). Who would have thought that now, about seven years later, I would be cruising through the hills of Brittany in my 1000cc car towards the overnight location of Lidl-Trek to talk to Tolhoek about his future, which is far from certain. Because at the time of the interview, in early September 2023, the slender man from Zeeland still doesn't know what 2024 holds for him.

"It was not a rosy year for me"

Tolhoek is a cyclist who hasn't had luck on his side very often. The man from Yerseke, first and foremost, frequently found himself unexpectedly hitting the asphalt. His fall through the rear window of a support car in the 2016 Tour of Burgos is indeed one that is etched in the memory of many cycling fans.

In late July 2022, Tolhoek also had a hard crash in the 'cursed' Tour of Poland. Furthermore, he frequently dealt with recurring or new injuries, sometimes as a result of those crashes, which often shattered his cycling dreams. 2023 was also a rather miserable year for Tolhoek, who once again suffered a hard crash in the UAE Tour. "It was not a rosy year for me, certainly not," the climber tells me, sitting in the ibis Styles Lorient Caudan.

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2023 was a really unlucky year for Tolhoek

Mentally strong Tolhoek hopes to pull out all the stops in Croatia and China

"At a certain point, I didn't race for five months," he refers to the period between the UAE Tour and the Tour of Poland (early August), where he returned to competition. "Except for the opening stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, but that can't be considered a real participation," he alludes to his early withdrawal from the French WorldTour race due to knee pain.

"Fortunately, things went well in Poland," he continues his story. "At that time, I really thought I was on my way back. But unfortunately, the day before the Arctic Race of Norway, I got sick. I did finish that race, but it wasn't easy. I paid a high price for it because I was bedridden with the flu for a while afterward. So, it really hasn't been the season I had hoped for. I'm still doing the CRO Race (end of September, ed.) and the Tour of Guanxi (mid-October, ed.) later this year. And maybe some Italian one-day races, but I'm not sure about those yet."

"I'm open to anything," said Tolhoek, who is looking for a team

In those Croatian and Chinese stage races, Tolhoek is eager to make his presence felt. Despite his season being filled with setbacks, he possesses boundless ambition. "I'm really looking forward to training hard for those races. Of course, it can be mentally challenging at times, but I've had years when things didn't go well before. And in those tougher years, I've always had good periods," explains the winner of a mountain stage in the 2019 Tour of Switzerland, revealing his indirect source of motivation. "So, I'm not overly concerned, especially because things went well in Poland. I was hitting the power numbers I'm supposed to. That's why it was even more disappointing that I got sick afterward. Hopefully, I can prepare myself well and stay in good health for the races in Croatia and China."

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Tolhoek wins a stage at the Tour of Switzerland (2019)

Good results in Croatia and China could potentially earn Tolhoek a new contract. His current contract with Lidl-Trek expires at the end of 2023, and Tolhoek has not heard much about a possible extension so far. "I'm open to anything," says the Dutch rider. "Right now, I have nothing lined up. Things have been different in the past when teams were eager to sign me or renew my contract. Currently, that's not the case, and that's tough because I still feel just as good as I did back then," he candidly admits.

"If everything goes well, I know I'm still a very good rider"

"I've barely been able to ride races, so it's challenging to prove myself. My morale is definitely high. When I started training again after my knee injury, I felt that I could reach my old level again. I thought at the time, 'I still have months to show what I'm capable of.' Now, time is running out," he says in early September. "The last three months of the year will be over in no time."

The 29-year-old Tolhoek, therefore, doesn't have certainty yet about the next year, and he admits it's far from a relaxing thought. "I just have to ensure that I stay fit and healthy and then demonstrate what I'm capable of in the remaining races. Hopefully, there's a team that still has confidence in me, just as I have in myself."

If his potential new team happens to be from the ProTour instead of the WorldTour, Tolhoek doesn't mind. "It's already great if there's a team that believes in you. If everything goes well, I know I'm still a very good rider. At times, I even produce better numbers than in my prime," he asserts. "So, I firmly hope that a team will come forward."