Johan Dorussen

A fresh face to the team for 2024, Johan joins the Development program after impressing in the many outings he had with the mixed line-ups through the team’s collaboration with Dutch Food Valley Cycling Team in the 2023 campaign.

From a young age Johan was always interested in cycling and was inspired to take up the sport after seeing his uncle riding. Once Johan and his siblings were old enough, they joined his uncle on training rides and from that point they “didn’t want to stay at home.” Almost single minded from that point, aside from his school gym and P.E classes, Johan didn’t really do any other sport apart from cycling; focusing mostly on the road with a sprinkling of cyclocross in the winter.

“I like being outside and pushing yourself to the limit, setting goals and going all-in for them. That’s basically my main reasons why I like the sport so much.”

A driven and determined individual, Johan has been undeterred by any setbacks he’s suffered so far and has taken a more unconventional route into the peloton with the team, progressing at a steady rate through junior and amateur club teams. His first year in the U23 ranks started off in his words “really badly.” Yet, he put his head down and worked hard and remained resilient, knowing that his efforts would pay off. That they did with Johan taking three Dutch national race wins towards the end of 2022 and he would build on that with more consistent results in 2023. 

“If you want to win a race, or you set a goal, then you need to do the work to get there to be able to achieve it. I think that motivates me as a person. If you can then tick it off and go for the next goal; it’s a really good feeling.”

Succeeding with those goals, Johan quickly found his feet when riding in the mixed line-ups with the Development program and immediately clicked with the way of riding and responsibility that came with it.

“It was different to how we normally raced as we had to think about being the team who would make the moves and make the race unfold how we wanted it to, take responsibility in chasing and really believe that we could do it and not wait around for anyone else.”

Now fully integrated into the team for the 2024 season, Johan is looking forward to what he sees as a new phase for the Development program with a whole host of new faces, and it will be a “period of building” before pushing each other to be the best they can.

It isn’t just in the Development program that Johan knows some familiar faces, he is also good with friends with Esmée [Peperkamp] who he met when she was studying in Nijmegen, with Johan living in a nearby town. The duo were part of the town’s local cycling group, alongside Esmée’s boyfriend and Johan’s brother, and he jokes that the four of them were “the youngest by a long way” so they naturally spoke and became good friends.

The “direct” and “open-minded” Johan laughs that he’s stereotypically Dutch in that way, but thinks that it is something that helps him in his cycling career as he’s always open to advice and will take things on board, but he also likes to share his feelings too.

Away from the bike, Johan enjoys a quiet life and likes to spend time with the variety of animals that they have on the family farm as it takes his mind off things and acts as an escape. If he’s not becoming the Thibaut Pinot of Beuningen, then the family-orientated Johan likes to spend his time with his friends and family.