News: Madison Genesis Signing Neil van der Ploeg

In an interview with Eurosport Australia, new signing for Madison Genesis is ready for a wet summer in Britain

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News: Madison Genesis Signing Neil van der Ploeg

In an interview with Eurosport Australia, new signing for Madison Genesis, Neil van der Ploeg, is ready for a wet summer in Britain

The Aussie has been racing for an Aussie UCI conti team IsoWhey Sports-SwissWellness (formerly the Avanti Racing Team) for four years and like fellow Aussie Brenton Jones did for JLT Condor in 2017, Neil is now hoping some results in Britain will help him move into the pro ranks in the UCI circuit in Europe.

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Above: Photo: Australian National Championships 2015/ RR Men Elite Podium/ Caleb EWAN/Heinrich HAUSSLER/Neil VAN DER PLOEG 

It’s no secret though that the racing here involves racing in the rain with 2017 one of the wettest crit series ever. He told Eurosport AU “I hear there are a lot of wet crits over there. I’m not actually super familiar with all of the riders and exactly where I will fit in, but there are quite a few criteriums in the UK and the Tour Series is quite a big goal for the team as well.”

Neil, who is the older brother of Eliminator World Champion (MTB) and Australian cyclo-cross champion, Paul van der Ploeg and a winner of an Aussie classic in News South Wales, this year’s 228-kilometre Grafton to Inverell. He admits that after some time in Europe, it would be good to race on this side of the world while he still can.

His boss at his current team says of the new Madison Genesis rider “Neil is not scared of pretty ordinary weather and seems to embrace it, because he always performs well in those conditions,” he told Eurosport AU. “I think the UK will be an ideal fit for him and I expect some pretty early results.”

Meanwhile, new Madison Genesis DS, Colin Sturgess with friends in Australia from his time there, knows just what the team are getting with the new signing. “Neil brings a wealth of experience and results to Madison Genesis for 2018, and importantly the professionalism and mind-set that we seek from our riders. Apart from being successful as an individual, he’s a phenomenal team rider, someone with the foresight and race-craft to know when and where to do a job for the team.”

Read more here on Eurosport AU

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