Gijs Leemreize

Still in the first half of his twenties, Gijs is a talented young Dutch climber who has made his way steadily through the ranks, picking up impressive results since turning pro at the beginning of the 2021 season: making the move to the team in 2024.

Football was Gijs’ first love and he played that from a young age, running up and down pitch as a centre midfielder, putting the good engine to use. Although Gijs laughs and admits that he was “never really great” and did it more for fun. He always cycled to and from school, like most Dutch kids, and enjoyed watching the Tour de France.

In his local hometown of Ruurlo, they ran a competition and game every year for the Tour de France with a winner’s ceremony, at which they hosted a raffle for a variety of prizes. Lucky 12-year-old Gijs took home the top prize in the raffle which was a brand-new race bike. From there he started to ride more and more and eventually stopped with his football, eventually competing in his first bike races a few years later.

A dedicated individual, Gijs takes a calculated and analytical approach to his love and motivations for the sport; stating that he really enjoys that “you get out what you put in.”

“In cycling I like that you can reach a higher level by doing things well and putting in the effort. I’m motivated by taking steps and seeing progression each day, not just by the final result on paper.”

A stand-out 2022 season saw Gijs take some brilliant results at his debut Grand Tour, the Giro d’Italia, where he picked up two podium places from hard-fought breakaways. However, he admits his 2023 campaign wasn’t the best due to illness and injury but that only motivates him for the future.

“I still remember and look back on those previous races and performances which then give me confidence that I can be up there again.”

A change of environment for Gijs is something that he expects to invigorate him as a rider and he’s excited to have more opportunities as a finisher with the team, but also learning from some of the more experienced GC riders in the group such as Romain Bardet.

“I think this team and their whole performance staff and approach to everything will allow me the space to grow and improve my capabilities as a rider.”  

Looking inwards he would describe himself as “chaotic”, “calm” and “motivated”, with Gijs joking that his chaotic-ness then depends on what situation he is in because during races he is calm and composed, “not making too much stress”, but outside of that he can often be found running around doing somethings last minute. As for motivation, he thinks that it’s a characteristic that is crucial for becoming a professional bike rider; with all the commitments, long training hours and time away from home.

Looking to the future, he has a big aim of winning a Grand Tour stage with the team and although he admits that its “not easy to get into those situations”, it is still a dream goal. 

Away from the bike, Gijs is a pretty “simple” guy by his own accounts, and he enjoys some peace and quiet back at home, watching TV shows such as Undercover, trying his hand at mastering his gnocchi recipe, or simply just catching up with friends and family.