New to the team in 2023, the year was a whirlwind for Frank who started off the campaign at ABLOC CT before making the switch to the Development program in the middle of the year. Ahead of joining the team Frank showed his credentials with several barnstorming rides that including an impressive pro win from an all-day breakaway at the Tour of Qinghai Lake. Riding his first full season at WorldTour level, Frank made a remarkable impression on the cycling world with a brilliant performance in the opening stage of the 2024 Tour de France. He rode superbly all day in the breakaway where he helped teammate Romain Bardet to victory, securing an outstanding one-two finish for the team and marking an incredible first Grand Tour stage in the young Dutch rider’s career. It wasn’t only at the Tour de France that Frank shone, as he celebrated two victories earlier in the season when he won the queen stage and the overall classification of the Tour of Türkiye.
“2023 feels all like a natural progression to me but it of course went very, very fast. I knew early on that I would transfer, but not necessarily in the middle of the season, which was very special. It was nice to also win some races even before the transfer to prove something to the team already.”
Continuing to prove something, Frank made an immediate impact on his first race with the Development program where he took a brilliant stage win and finished third overall at the challenging Tour Alsace which Frank found was “very rewarding to pay back the hard work of the guys.” From that point on, Frank only competed in races alongside the Men’s program which was a “nice learning experience” ahead of the coming years.
Looking further back into his past, Frank was in a way destined to become a cyclist because although he wasn’t from a competitive cycling family, his parents met on a cycling holiday in Portugal.