Menno Huising (Visma | Lease a Bike) pushes his limits: "Came here mainly to see if I could do this too"

Visma | Lease a Bike saw young talents Per Strand Hagenes, Tim van Dijke and Mick van Dijke shine in Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, but a few hours earlier, another promising rider had already left his mark at the velodrome in Northern France. Menno Huising, representing the development team of the Dutch squad, finished eleventh in that edition of the Hell of the North. Afterwards, he reflected on the race together with IDLProCycling.com.

Ask an average rider about their account of Paris-Roubaix, and their eyes often betray exactly what Huising said. "How do I explain this, and where do I start?" the spontaneous rider first asked himself two questions, then began. "The race was closed for a long time and never really went very fast, but on one section, it suddenly went full throttle. After that, echelons formed, but in my opinion, it didn’t really go that hard."

"Personally, I didn’t know there was still a group ahead until Carrefour de l’Arbre. We rode without earpieces, so we got very little information. The cooperation among the chasers wasn’t great. Otherwise, we could have definitely closed the gap," said Huising, who eventually finished just outside the top ten. "In the last few kilometers before Roubaix, I rode solo in fourth place, but then I was just caught. I was totally exhausted in the sprint. The race didn’t really go hard, but everyone was gradually drained," he described Paris-Roubaix.

So was there the potential for more? Huising considers the question and weighs his answer. "Winning or making the podium was possible, but I didn't have the legs to break the race apart. But yeah, that's also Roubaix. Maybe I lacked a bit of confidence, because I mainly came here to see if I could also do this," he articulated his initial ambition. "Normally, I only race in climbing competitions, but I felt that Roubaix or Flanders could suit me. Then the team said: let's just try it. So I did, and it turns out I managed quite well."

And that leaves him wanting more. "Roubaix is always fun. I did it once as a junior and ended up lying in the grass with cramps, telling the soigneur I'd never come back. Then, as I left the velodrome, I was already thinking: I guess I'll come back here after all. And now we thought: let's just try it. And it turns out it went quite well, so I hope the team is also satisfied. Maybe I can try it again in the coming years with the WorldTour team, but that will be even harder to get selected. Especially with this team," said the guy who has secured a pro contract with Visma | Lease a Bike until the end of 2027.

Huising had to opportunity to put in hours of work for Vingegaard and Bouwman, and notes improvement in his engine

This year, Huising got a taste of the big time in O Gran Camino and Coppi e Bartali: two races where Visma | Lease a Bike (with Jonas Vingegaard and Koen Bouwman) won the overall classification. "Those are climbing races, so you're incredibly sharp. So, last week, I had to eat a lot to put on some kilos for Roubaix," the friendly rider laughs. "What did I eat? Just loads of pasta, but I must say the Easter eggs were also quite nice. I completely ignored the scale and just ate what I could. I only told the nutritionist about it the day before Roubaix, haha."

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"Something you do notice... In O Gran Camino, I controlled breakaways of eleven to eight men by myself for three days," continues the young man who turned twenty the day after Roubaix. "That just gives you a bigger engine. The same in Coppi e Bartali, there I spent some time at the front with Julien Vermote, so I noticed last week in those Italian races that you can race at a higher level and have some reserve. That's probably the most important thing to take away, I think."

He put that engine to good use in Roubaix. "One downside is that you lose some insight in the finals after those races. You do your turns at the front, but the last forty kilometers you're riding ten minutes behind. To then race a finale where explosiveness is needed is a bit of an adjustment. But the engine compensates for that. I started the first section in hundredth place, got caught behind a crash, but then moved up section by section without being reckless. Then you have a small advantage in the end."

After his earlier attack, Huising made a final all-or-nothing attempt on the track in Roubaix. "I got caught with three corners to go before the track, so I knew I was screwed. Then it went quiet, and I thought: it doesn't matter, so why not? But I was with Vlad (Van Mechelen, ed.) and Tibor (del Grosso, ed.), who are fast guys. So it was all or nothing, and of course, I had already done some kilometers solo, so I could almost feel the cramps coming. And they did, but I just kept going...," he expresses his mentality in one striking sentence. We'll be seeing and hearing a lot more from this man!