Hailing from Norway, Ulrik originally played football as a youngster when at school but didn’t find it too enjoyable, so he looked for something else and found cycling and cross-country skiing. In typical fashion, he would spend his winter on the skis while two wheels, in particular mountain bike, would be his favoured sport during the summer.
He continued in that way until he was around 17 years old and when he got a sports scholarship as part of his education and joined a club team. From there he took up road racing more and grew alongside his team who in 2025 stepped up to the Continental level; meaning they could take part in some big races on the calendar.
“We went to the Arctic Race of Norway, Tour of Norway and some pro races in Belgium and that was all a really good experience. Of course, the level is a lot higher so it was harder to perform, but I could learn a lot from it; and took that back to the lower-level races where I actually won my first UCI event.”
Coming to the sport of road racing relatively late, Ulrik considers himself as a bit of a rough diamond with “unlocked potential” on the longer climbs and thinks that he has room to improve on the shorter efforts too, and he would love to able to mimic his sporting idol Mathieu van der Poel in that respect.
With his mountain bike background, Ulrik’s technical skills are on a good level, but he admits that he still has some work to do in terms of the tactical side of racing.
“I really like the games you can play in road cycling, I find the tactics fun, even though I’m still not so good at that at the moment. It’s something I want to further improve on with the team.”
In 2026, like a lot of the Development program riders, Ulrik will use the Keep Challenging Center in Sittard as his base in the Netherlands.
“In my old team we had about ten guys staying in the same area of Lillehammer together and that was nice to be able to train together and see each other. So, I’m looking forward to that in Sittard; having the guys and staff members around too. I think it will be good for making progress.”
With a one-year contract with the Development program, Ulrik has a clear goal in mind for his 2026 campaign, perform to his best abilities and prove himself: hoping to get a pro contract at the end of it.
Away from the bike, Ulrik lives up to some Scandinavian stereotypes describing himself as “calm” and “curious”, but his quiet and reserved nature shouldn’t be confused with someone who doesn’t believe in himself.
When he’s not out riding in zero degree conditions, he likes to spend time playing video games with friends or listening to country music; and in the better weather you might find him on the disc golf course.