Bart Lemmen "didn't understand a damn thing", but still rides with Jumbo-Visma thanks to extensive coaching and "ultimate ego"

To answer that question, we need to go back to the club where it really started for the current professional cyclist: the Utrecht Student Cycling Association called 'De Domrenner'. As a teammate of Peter Jansen, Lemmen rode his first competitive kilometers there in 2017. "He came to us through his girlfriend Nienke. She was already riding with the club and Bart wanted to join in for training," explains Jansen.

Lemmen soon started participating in several criteriums. And was even successful right off the bat: he won a number of his first races, in the sports class category. "When someone is competing with the best right from their first training sessions and races, you know they have a lot of potential. From the very beginning, he was already cycling quite fast."

He joined a small WhatsApp group where a few amateur cyclists would arrange training rides. "And that's how we got in touch," says Jelmer Nuijten, who has been one of Lemmen's best friends since that time. "I rode up front with Bart for a long time because the rest couldn't really keep up with the pace. Our conversations were mainly about how cycling works. Bart didn't understand a damn thing about it."

Nuijten vividly remembers one question in particular: "They can just cycle faster, right?" Bart wondered, when talking about his criterium win. He didn't understand why others couldn't go faster. Then he asked about what it's like to be an elite rider. He was getting a lot of talk about his performances - he had just become the Dutch champion among the military for the first time. Bart had no idea, so he also didn't know which category would suit him the next year. I then asked him: aren't you just going to race with the elite next year? It makes no sense for you to race as an amateur again.”

And so it happened. In September 2017, Nuijten convinced Lemmen to compete in the elite category from 2018 onwards - the same category in which Nuijten himself was racing. Lemmen would join the same team as his friend Nuijten, at the West-Frisia cycling club in Enkhuizen. "Jelmer immediately said that Bart could handle the level just fine," recalls Tino Haakman. Haakman, the driving force and team leader of the West-Frisian club, began to review Lemmen's results up until that point. "I could immediately tell that he would be a winner."

But even at the first team trainings up there in the north of the Netherlands, Haakman immediately saw that there was more potential to the military man. "Especially in terms of enjoyment, he stood out, but also with his eagerness and his competitive attitude." Only his occupation as a soldier was an obstacle, thought his former team leader. "Of course, he had very little time to train. When he trained just a bit more, from four hours to, for example, eight hours a week, he was already seriously competing for prizes. Even back then, I already said that he would be at least pro-continental worthy."

It wasn't until 2021 that Lemmen really made a name for himself as the best club cyclist in the Netherlands by winning the national competition. This was a historic moment in cycling, as no club cyclist had ever won this series of Dutch races before. In a video report by NH Sport, Lemmen chuckled when asked what this victory meant: "They should have picked me up earlier," said the rider from Utrecht, who was referring to the continental teams when saying "they". "I think I have potential," he continued his response in a more serious tone.

During the last race of that legendary competition, which was the cobbled classic Omloop van de Braakman, Haakman was the proud man behind the wheel: "What Bart is good at is thinking without limits. Few club cyclists would think beforehand that they can win, but Bart does." Haakman even gave Lemmen a nickname: the Roglic of the Netherlands. "All around, you see that athletes are being selected at a younger and younger age. But there are also lateral entrants. Roglic is one of them, and so is Bart. But like Roglic, he's also just a very all-round cyclist."

"I don't agree with that," Nuijten is clear about his nickname. "In terms of what he can do, he is comparable, but Bart can steer better." Besides being teammates and friends, Nuijten, also a movement scientist, became Lemmen's coach. "It was only in his last year at West-Frisia that some rhythm set in, and we started working together. Before that, he was still in that student vibe."

Multiple teams were interested in Lemmen. Haakman helped him navigate this, by approaching managers and contacts in the professional peloton. "Bart needed riders to look up to, so he chose VolkerWessels," explains Nuijten. "He got along very well with Peter Schulting or someone like Coen Vermeltfoort. He valued their opinions and listened to them carefully."

Nuijten would best describe his friend as extremely ego-oriented. "He likes to get that confirmation that he is good at something, which is important for him to hear. Not necessarily out of insecurity – he doesn't suffer from that – but he has an ultimate need to prove himself." This also highlights Lemmen's strongest asset as a cyclist. "Bart is willing to work for it, he is super disciplined. He has no trouble sticking to long-term plans."

In his first season at the continental level, Lemmen once again proved his ability to win. He claimed victory in a new Limburg classic, the Ton Dolmans Trophy, crossing the finish line alongside teammate Schulting. The icing on the cake was narrowly missing the podium at the Dutch National Championships, where he finished fourth, behind winner Pascal Eenkhoorn (Jumbo-Visma), Daan Hoole (Trek-Segafredo) and third-place Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert).

The one-meter-eighty-tall rider's autumn season was also remarkable. In the city race of Geraardsbergen, he reached the podium alongside brothers Mathieu and David van der Poel. "At the end of the season, he was just riding incredibly hard," concludes his coach Nuijten. "Yves Lampaert (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) had to pull out all the stops to prevent Bart, as a continental-level rider, from joining the leading group."

The search for a new team began. Because, as Nuijten thought: "Wouldn't it be quite odd if this guy doesn't turn pro? But many teams were hesitant due to his age." Yet, they succeeded. After sending several emails, Lemmen received a positive response from one team. Starting in 2023, he would ride for the American pro-continental team Human Powered Health.

There, at the end of February, Lemmen began to compete with the WorldTour pros. In the time trial of O Gran Camino, the Spanish stage race where Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) won all three stages, the Dutchman clocked the fourth fastest time, behind Vingegaard, Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) and Will Barta (Movistar). "At this team, Bart continued to improve, but especially in other areas."  

In particular, the traveling to races began to play a significant role in the first half of the season. "He often got sick when he had to travel to other countries or continents," Nuijten knows. "He then became a bit more resilient. But in terms of content, he has steadily improved. We haven't really specified yet, but he has become better across the board."

Nuijten speaks of 'we', as he continued as a coach for his friend Lemmen at Human Powered Health. Everything seemed to be going well, especially after another fourth place at the Dutch National Championships, behind Dylan van Baarle and Olav Kooij (both Jumbo-Visma), and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck). But then his employer delivered bad news: the team was going to disband.

"Bart already had a manager by then, so I was just there as a sparring partner," says Nuijten. "He was frustrated at one point, thinking, what more do I need to do to find another team? Then suddenly, Jumbo-Visma came knocking on his door."

After the team requested a conversation with Lemmen, things moved quickly according to Nuijten. On October 18th, the liberating news finally came: from 2024 onwards, Lemmen will be a new addition to one of the best WorldTour teams. "We knew that if he continued like this, he would be worthy of continental or pro-continental level, but few people expected Jumbo-Visma," former teammate Jansen honestly says.

The next logical question then is: what are Bart Lemmen's limits? "In practice, he has been a pro for less than a year, so he can probably still improve," continues Jansen. "It will be a journey of discovery." West-Frisian Haakman agrees. "In terms of training years, he doesn't have many, so just over the years, he will get stronger. I'm very curious to see what Jumbo-Visma are going to do with him and how they see him as a rider."

Lemmen's transfer to the current Jumbo-Visma also marks the end of his collaboration with coach Nuijten. "I started training him as a friend, and the two did not interfere with each other at the time. He's moving on with another coach now, so I'll just see him as a friend again."

What does Nuijten expect from his friend next year? "I don't know his true limits. Bart is someone who has relatively little bad luck and can handle setbacks well. He's good at putting things into perspective and understanding the bigger picture. But he's not going to win the Tour. He's not the new Roglic. However, if Bart doesn't achieve his first professional win next year, I'd be very surprised."