Dutch road race and time trial titles, the overall win at Bizkaikoloreak Juniors and a bronze medal at the World Championships, Nienke made the step up to WorldTour racing with Team Picnic PostNL in 2023.
Like most Dutch kids, Nienke has had a bike since a young age but she “really hated” cycling at first because she had to go out with her parents, who cycle a lot, but she would only be on a normal city bike; stating that “it was not my hobby, so I was a bit angry”.
Then at the age of 12 she started skating and a lot of her teammates rode as part of their fitness. Nienke then found out the national youth championships were taking place in Amersfoort where she lived, so she started competing in bike races herself as she wanted to take part in those championships and “the rest is history”.
She jokes that she loves the sport a lot more now than she did at a young age, with Nienke particularly a fan of it is a combination of tactics and being physically strong, as well as it being a team sport too.
Next to that she is also a self-certified driven person, not only in cycling but also in general life such as her schoolwork. That means she gives it her all in training or a race where she wants to do everything perfectly: “seeing the numbers improve really motivates me”.