Esmée Peperkamp

Now into her fourth year with Team Picnic PostNL, Esmée has continued to make steps year-on-year, growing both as a rider and a person. 2023 saw Esmée build on a good 2022 and she started the year with a bang by taking an impressive fourth on Jebel Hafeet at the UAE tour; securing her first WorldTour level top five, before going on to record more consistent results throughout the rest of the campaign.

Coming into the sport later in life, Esmée watched her mum and dad ride for fun and got a bike to keep fit and as a hobby to do. While she was studying for her chemistry degree in Nijmegen, Esmée found herself not enjoying the daily train journey so instead made the 40 kilometre or so trip by bike.

Leaving early in the morning to avoid any rush, she fell more and more in love with the sport and soon joined the student club. From there she fully “caught the cycling bug” and did more and more racing, eventually joining a club team before making the step to Team Picnic PostNL. That first year with the team [2021] was “really strange” for Esmée, as “everyone was already so used to the world of cycling” while she “was just like ‘woah’, at all of the new things” she was learning.

Developing more as a rider throughout that time, Esmée has gained more confidence riding in the bunch with the help of the team, something that she admits she struggled with initially, but now she is confident with fighting and holding her place. More than that, Esmée has proven to be a brilliant teammate who always gives her all, and she can often be found helping set the pace at the head of the bunch; smashing it on the flat or the climbs.

With her dogged determination and attitude, Esmée looks up to Annemiek van Vleuten as an idol in the sport, who herself came into the sport a bit later. It’s clear when speaking to her, that Esmée is someone who knows what she wants and is driven to do everything she can to achieve those goals.

“As I started cycling later, I know that there is still a lot that I can improve on, and things have been going in a really good way with the team so far. I want to keep pushing and challenging myself every day to be the best I can be.”

Stepping away from her life on the bike, she is a social person who likes spending time outside either going on long walks or runs with her dog. Equally, Esmée finds herself at home in the kitchen and enjoys cooking for friends and family, while in the evening she likes getting her nose stuck into a good book; whether that be fiction or non-fiction – anything is good for her. Or if you’re lucky, you might even catch her practicing her unicycle skills.