Silje Bader

Making the step-up to the team in 2024, joining from GT Krush RebelLease Pro Cycling, Silje is still in her late teens having only recently moved out of the junior category where she took a variety of impressive results: including a win at Omloop van Noordwest Overijssel and Omloop Borsele Juniors.

Not from a cycling family as such, Silje’s dad did triathlon and she herself was into athletics and running from a young age. She started with mountain biking for fun as another activity and at the age of 12 she had to stop her competitive running because of an injury so instead began entering mountain bike races. From there she raced more and more but Covid-19 really halted the quantity of mountain bike races, so she also dabbled in road racing too. Much to her surprise, she won the Dutch national title in 2021 for Novice riders and from there she switched more to a road focus in the juniors.

“I really like the races. I train for the races in that regard. They are the most beautiful things – anything can happen, they are often unpredictable and a lot of fun.”

Despite her young age, Silje has a mature outlook on life and her career, knowing that cycling is such a tough sport she doesn’t hang all her hopes and measure of success on the number on the results sheet at the end of the day.

“For me, when I feel like I’ve put everything into the race then it is a success for me, but of course winning is nice too. If I’m doing a race where I am climbing well for example or put in a big effort, then I feel proud afterwards and that feels like a little victory for me.”

Describing herself as “not someone to sit still”, Silje enjoys keeping herself occupied by doing a variety of things such as cooking, running, and going out with friends and it’s also one of the reasons that she likes cycling as much as if she did another sport then she would be “bored having only done an hour or two”.

Alongside her activeness, Silje also jokingly describes herself as a “little bit crazy” because she has a “weird” music taste and if she’s comfortable in a group setting then she doesn’t mind having a joke and making fun of herself. In that way, it also makes sense that she also uses the word “respectful” too, as she is a firm believer that people should be able to act how they want and everyone can be who they want to be, even If they are a little bit crazy.

Of course, with her young age, Silje still has space and time to grow as a rider and person and that is what she hopes to achieve with the team. Now she thinks that her strengths lie in being able to put out the power in sprints after a hard day at the classics, or in time trials too, but she also knows the difference in juniors to WorldTour is high and that it will all be about “learning who I am as a rider again”.

“I’m excited but also a little bit nervous about the step-up as this is obviously a big team and I want to prove to myself and everyone else that I am capable. Riding with GT Krush first has helped smooth out that jump from juniors.”

Away from the sport then Silje likes to still pick up her mountain bike and hit some trails when possible or go on nice walks to the beach with her dogs. Interestingly, she is also really fascinated by cars and is into a variety of brands, with American muscle cars such as Mustangs one of her favourite types. Her brother also works in fashion, so she also likes to keep up with the latest trends and wear some different and exciting garments.