Van Schip responds to latest DQ: 'Getting yelled at for doing something different is never fun'
A few days after being disqualified on the first road stage of the Tour of Holland, Jan-Willen van Schip has responded to the furore surrounding the incident, its circumstances, and his own future.
"Getting yelled at for doing something different is never fun," Van Schip wrote on Instagram. "Being rejected because you're chasing your dreams hurts. Being the outcast that tackles things differently leads to gigantic unnecessary friction."
The 31-year-old Dutchman, predominantly a track racer, was handed his latest DSQ not for his trademark wacky cockpit setup, but for a forward-tilting seatpost that the UCI deemed illegal. It came in spite of his team's assertions that they'd checked everything was in order beforehand, and for Van Schip – and Escape's Caley Fretz – it seems to be more an issue of tradition than regulation.
"The contrast of what you need to do to perform in cycling and what the cycling culture encourages you cannot be greater," he wrote on. "at university I'm blossoming, everyone asks questions, everyone constantly displays the behavior to learn, to be curious, to improve."
Next up for Van Schip is a return to the track, and perhaps a diversion into a new discipline for the Dutchman: "I want to try gravel, maybe Unbound, does anyone have a gravel bike/team on offer?"
