Cycling Juniors in Duisburg
Jasper Mees can only call himself a rider from this year onwards. — © IF
Sint-Joris-Winge –
First-year junior Jasper Mees (16) can only call himself a rider this year and therefore still has a whole learning process to go through. For the time being, he mainly does this in regional races such as the one on May 1 in Duisburg.
Riders and clubs are taking advantage of this broken week to swarm to various places in Europe. For example, cases were spotted in Poland and Germany. However, someone like Jasper Mees has no business there for the time being. He has to learn the trade under the church tower and a competition such as the one in Duisburg is extremely suitable for this, bearing in mind that the tenors in his category will probably be working elsewhere. That gives him a little more breathing space. But learning is high on his agenda for the time being.
“I had to deal with the phenomenon that many riders initially suffer from, namely cycling in a large peloton and finding your place in it. Something that works better and better match after match. I finished half of the first race I took part in. I was able to complete the next three immediately,” the GMS CT Glabbeek rider describes his baptism of fire.
Eating a lot of sandwiches
It is striking in his case that he is only now in his first year as a rider, while others have been hanging over their racing handlebars since they were eight. “I actually started with athletics and judo until the two sports could no longer be combined. I sometimes took part in mountain bike excursions with Dad on Sunday mornings. Thirty kilometers, something like that. That was pure fun and that’s how I got into road cycling. With this result. So learning a lot is the most important thing for the time being.”
“I also hope to get my chance in a slightly bigger competition. Last weekend I was at the start of an interclub in Mouscron and that turned out not to be a great success. So I still eat a lot of sandwiches, but as time goes by, I dare say I will take several steps,” Jasper Mees concludes.
