The SEG Racing years of Ide Schelling: even with a dyed mustache and weird glasses he always performed

Ide stood out already in the youth categories. Not so much for his performances, which were already notable, but more for the show and fun around it. He rode the Dutch criteriums wearing large sunglasses. Sunglasses he had bought cheaply, which were anything but aerodynamic or stylish. It didn’t bother Ide, who still managed to win with them.

This approach continued into his junior years. At the junior team Monkey Town, Ide sometimes forgot his helmet, something he realized five minutes before a stage in the Oberösterreich Juniorenrundfahrt. While the team leader and soigneur looked for a solution, Ide continued to eat his bag of sweets. He didn't worry too much about it. Just over two and a half hours later, he finished second in the stage and the overall classification of this highly regarded stage race.

But he had more surprises up his sleeve. For instance, he once participated in the BNN program "Proefkonijnen" (Guinea pigs, ed.). Can you ride a beer bike up the Cauberg? That seemed like a fun challenge to him, so he traveled to South Limburg to try it, along with presenter Geraldine Kemper, among others. Or those times during a race when he would call out to his parents, just so they knew Ide had seen them. “DAD! DAD!” he would shout in the middle of the peloton. “I still do that,” the cyclist himself says.

While many juniors, including myself, were very serious about the sport from a young age, Ide maintained a relaxed approach. Spending an entire evening playing table tennis during a French stage race, even while wearing the yellow jersey? Ide would get everyone involved and still managed to win the general classification of the Ronde des Vallées.

This not only characterizes Ide as a person but also as a cyclist. It seems as though he isn’t focused on the sport, but the rider from The Hague knows better. “It’s true, I don’t take it too seriously. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to live like a pro. I still see it as something I enjoy doing. I want to get the best out of myself and I know how to do that.”

This attitude isn't just how he is now, after years as a professional, but also how he was during his junior years and as a U23 rider at the SEG Racing Academy. “I remember thinking SEG was the team I wanted to ride for because they had a nice Instagram page. I was just happy to be able to really ride for that team. I was going to see what would happen.”

At 18 years old, the South Holland native joined what was then the premier development team, starting his journey as a first-year U23 rider. But did his playful spirit and surprises cease then? "I didn't really feel like I changed at SEG. We were all young riders of the same age group, so there wasn't a need to act any differently. It was always laid-back, allowing everyone to just be themselves," he reflects.

Now 25, the rider reminisces about his seamless fit with the Dutch continental team. "SEG allowed you to carve your own path. It truly felt like my team, a unique experience I doubt I'll find elsewhere. The atmosphere was always enjoyable, turning races into more of social outings than competitions."

Reflecting on the past versus now, Ide notes a shift. "Back then, it was like going out with friends rather than just colleagues, which is the case nowadays. Now, you click with some people but not with everyone, diluting the uniqueness of these trips. It's less special now, with fewer moments of laughter."

Laughter is what Ide Schelling enjoys most. This was particularly evident during the Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt der Junioren in Germany, when he was dared to wear the glasses of someone's parents during the race. These were not ordinary glasses, as the photos show. “Oh yeah, I did that too,” Ide still laughs about it now. It wasn’t the first, nor was it the last time he had fun with quirky glasses. For the next episode, we move to the Junior World Championships in Qatar, 2016.

“That pair of glasses used to lie in a drawer at home. Normally, I never rode with glasses, but the sun was shining so intensely into your eyes, I had to wear some. Kirsten Wild let me borrow a pair of Oakleys. I had already worn them for training, but on the day of the race, I thought 'screw it', I’ll just wear the other ones.”

And once again, Ide performs as if nothing unusual is happening. In the German stage race, he finishes third twice and wins the polka dot jersey, while at the World Championships, Ide finishes in seventh place. Joking around and performing well: that’s Ide in a nutshell. But if the joker hadn’t performed, would he have still gotten away with it at SEG? “Look, I showed that it just works. If they know you're doing everything properly, they just let you be.”

The same happened when Ide, in his early years at SEG Racing, suddenly wanted to try a different discipline, though it wasn’t easy to get approval. “Since I was fourteen, I got into the whole fixie scene by building my own bikes. And I would participate in those illegal races through the city, where you have to race from point to point. That’s when the NL-crit series started picking up.”

Ide then started racing on a fixed-gear bike. "I secretly entered one of those races. I didn't wear my SEG kit, but instead wore the selection team's gear, hoping they wouldn't find out. Of course, they did find out. Our team manager was angry, but I managed to get permission to race in a few events. I just asked them."

And so, Ide traveled to Milan for an international race on a bike without gears and brakes. "They thought it was cool and not really dangerous, especially since it was at the end of the season," Ide recalls the SEG team management's reaction. "Initially, they disapproved because I had done it secretly without communicating. It's often quickly associated with being dangerous."

At SEG Racing, Ide enjoyed a lot of freedom, particularly in collaboration with his Greek coach Vasilis Anastopoulos. This former cyclist moved to the WorldTour at the same time as Ide, becoming a coach for the current Soudal-Quick Step team. From 2024, the pair will reunite, as both Ide and Anastopoulos are transferring to the Astana Qazaqstan Team.

The 'Johan Cruyff of Greek cycling' will undoubtedly recall the photo session at SEG Racing when he sees Ide posing for his new Kazakh team. "I came downstairs with a painted mustache, haha. I had decided while in Greece that I wouldn't shave that month. But due to my blonde hair, the mustache wasn’t very visible. So, I got some hair dye from the supermarket, only to end up burning everything... It looked like I had drunk chocolate milk and hadn't wiped it off properly.”

Ide still remembers the reaction of Anastopoulos and the rest of the staff. “They must have thought, 'What a nutcase'. But I thought, 'Who cares!'” And once again, the same story. Ide, mustache and all, went on to win the general classification of the Loutraki Challenge a few days later, a race that had long been a preparation event for the development team.

It would also turn out to be Ide’s last year with them. In 2019, a highlight was winning a stage in the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta Mont Blanc, a race for U23 riders. During his three years at SEG Racing, Ide says he learned how to train properly. “Before that, I never rode with power meters or a heart rate monitor. I still remember being explained how these worked during my first training camp.”

“I also had the feeling that everyone was cycling because they enjoyed it, not necessarily doing everything to the extreme. We were more about the feel. That's probably different from a development team nowadays, where there’s a focus on the finer details. That would have been a lot less fun for me.”