Talkative, outgoing and eager to learn – Daniela has thrown herself feet and cleats first into her time so far with Team Picnic PostNL.
The now 19-year-old made the big jump straight out of the junior ranks to the World Tour at the start of the season. In what can be a performance and results orientated sport, it is crucial that for the younger riders they are given the space to grow and make mistakes, as they make the transition physically to competing against elite women riders who have been battling at the top of the sport for a decade.
Now, three months into her time with us, we wanted to catch up with Daniela to find out how she is handling the transition and reflect on her opening part of the year.
A longer relationship than it seems
Daniela’s relationship with Team Picnic PostNL already started earlier in 2023 as a second year U17 rider when, thanks to the team’s cooperation with Grouwels-Watersley R&D Road Team, she was able to then join one of the most prominent junior outfits in the sport for 2024. An added bonus is that they also happen to be based a 15-minute bike ride away from the team’s Keep Challenging Center in Sittard!
“Through my old team we did some technique training and tactical planning workshops with the team in 2025, and then also did a recon of Ronde van Vlaanderen and Liège-Bastogne-Liège with Hans [Team Picnic PostNL Scouting Coordinator]. That was really cool to experience and get to see how the team already worked, and hopefully it even comes in use this year!”
From there, it wasn’t long after that when Daniela’s contract was announced, and she was soon heading to the team’s HQ in Deventer in October for some fittings and measurements.
“That moment when I headed to the HQ was pretty amazing, with all the custom fittings and meeting lots of new people. It was really like a ‘wow, I’m actually here, this is it’ kind of feeling.”

