JW van Schip
relating to - "The situation is becoming a bit untenable," says van Schip's manager
Collects DSQs like pokemon cards, obviously now catches the eye of the commissaires everywhere he races.
Wondering about his mentality here - can he just not help himself? By all accounts he is a shit rider but keeps showing up with contraptions rather than bicycles. Physiologically he’s not that crazy of an outlier at 1.94m.
What is he trying to achieve?
If I were his team manager, I would welcome all the publicity that he brings to my tiny invisible team. Yes, he seems like a bit of a wild card and kind of annoying to deal with… but you knew that when you signed him.
Rein him in enough to stop stupid rule-breaking like bottles in jerseys, then capitalize on all the earned media you’re getting for his innovations.
He’s a divisive character, but he really appeals to a certain type of rider. Use those eyeballs. Ignore the haters.
No publicity is bad publicity.. I guess.. 
If I were his team manager, I’d be annoyed with all the money he’s costing me…
But you, hypothetical team manager, knew that when you signed him, and should have baked it into your budget. This is not new behavior.
500CHF fine = team name mentioned on global media >>> pretty good marketing ROI if you ask me
Foremost I think that he is misunderstood. And became a focus point for the UCI. Most innovations that he applied were in line with regulations, though he tends to clearly look for the edges of what is allowed. The UCI stated that one may wear a gel in a front pocket, but this gel must used during the race. This is laughable to me.
It saddens me to read a clear judgement of his character in the opening post. Calling someone a ‘shit rider’ could have perhaps been a bit more nuanced;) yes, he is an odd figure who pushes the boundaries but we need people who question the status quo.
Absolutely troublemaker. Optimization is a means to an end, and that end is winning bike races. If he’s failing to do so, and failing to help his team do so as a domestique, then what’s the point of this position and equipment work other than generating headlines.
It depends on what Van Schip wants out of his time in the peloton. If he’s just looking to push envelopes and optimize to find “free watts” in a professional setting then he can team up with dylan johnson on the gravel scene. But if he really wants to be a pro roadie he’s going to have to turn over every new leaf and be the goodest boy in the peloton for a while till the extra scrutiny dies down. It’s not fair and it’s not going to be but it’s what happens when you draw this much attention to yourself for the wrong reasons. It’s like being a footballer known for being too physical and getting carded frequently. A touch or push another less known player could get away with is an infraction for someone who is a known quantity. And figure Victor Campanaerts is a techy “find watts at the fringe” kind of guy but he’s still able to race without getting sanctioned for his kit or set up. Just don’t ask what’s in his bottle. If Van Schip is serious maybe after a season of riding the most vanilla stock set-up the team has to offer and sticking to every letter of the rule book the heat and scrutiny will finally die down. But that’s only if he wants to. I know it’s much harder to let the legs do the talking instead of his wallet but that’s the point he has reached.
There was an interview on Sporza a few days or weeks back, with his team manager.
The gist of it was:
He’s 31, not had a decent (road racing) result since before Covid and is making life difficult for his team. I do like his contrarian nature and honestly love the experimentation and UCI trolling (intended or not), but it’s time to admit this isn’t working for anyone - better focus on track, or go gravel racing and build up any crazy bike he likes.
I think we have very limited ability to infer about him as a personality.
But now I have something else in my mind about Parkhotel-Valkenberg than the team that Demi and Weibes forced their way off.
He’s been on the team since 2024 and didn’t rack up that many DSQ in the years before signing. Team mgmt probably did know they were taking a chance, but after 2,5 years I also think you’re allowed to make some conclusions.
Jan-Willem van Schip is clearly both a genius and a troublemaker, but the latter only seems to be a problem because cycling can be such a weirdly cliquey fashion show at times.
The guy is obviously a seriously talented athlete. He’s won World Championships on the track and he’s been at the Olympics so the idea that he’s somehow a “shit rider” per the first post is just nonsense. Most of that criticism seems to come from people looking at his funny glasses or his riding position, deciding he looks a bit odd, and working backwards from there. Cycling has always had this thing where if you don’t look the part or follow the unwritten rules, people assume you’re a Fred.
Like it or not, cycling is undeniably a technology and engineering sport. It’s not Formula 1, but it’s much closer to that end of the spectrum than many people seem willing to admit. The energy that van Schip brings to the sport would probably be celebrated in F1. Instead, in cycling, people seem happy with optimisation only as long as it stays within a box of what’s considered normal-looking.
The sport has always evolved because people pushed boundaries. Graeme Obree is probably the best example; unconventional positions, but stayed within the rules as they were written, and was hounded by the UCI, with them banning stuff on the day of his attempts simply to try and force him to give up/conform. That’s basically what van Schip is doing now.
One of the cool things about cycling is that different people get different things out of it. Some love the racing, some love the tech, some love the training side, and some are mainly there for the culture and look. That’s all fine. But I don’t really see why we should mock people for leaning into a different part of the sport.
For me, the simple answer is that if something is legal on race day, it’s legal. If the UCI doesn’t like a position, a piece of equipment, or a way of riding, then change the rules afterwards. That’s how sport works. What seems strange is acting as though someone is doing something wrong simply because they’ve found a loophole that nobody else thought of.
What I don’t like is the idea that riders should optimise within the rules, but only up to the point where everyone else thinks they still look normal. That feels completely at odds with the whole point of racing. If you want innovation, accept that some people are going to look weird. If you don’t want innovation, make it a spec series and give everyone the same bike and equipment.
I’m totally with you. And I even hate the aesthetics. But I think rules need to be enforced as written, not as vaguely intended by people who are actual s*** (at writing rules)
Thanks for the translations. Some fair points about successful outcomes but I’d suggest that this is also down to characteristics and strategy. He’s not a super-dynamic rider or lightweight climber. He’s a big unit with a ‘big engine’ and thanks to his track heritage, he can rev high and sustain repeated internal efforts like you get in a chain gang. Ergo his approach is going to be to be the first out of the peloton, looking for accomplices to join on relatively flat starts where there’s not a lot of competition for the break. He’ll look to drive the break at a high pace to maintain a lead and tire his competitors before attempting to get clear and solo for less than 5km. This is quite a niche strategy and not many try or succeed. Taco van der Horne. Steve Cummings to an extent and on more challenging terrain. Wout has done similar but is more versatile. What I mean to say is that it’s not surprising that he hasn’t won lots. He’s been in the mix at the front with 5/10km to go a few times. Because there are so few winners in bike racing I just wonder what your expectations are for each rider? The point about attracting attention is where he’s clearly excelling and he’s relatively cheap from this perspective Vs. even some world tour chancers who are never likely to win. I’m more in the camp that sees him as a sympathetic Obree character. I don’t get why anyone observing from the outside of races finds him annoying. I wouldn’t immediately feel comfortable having him and his setup next to me in a bunch though, but evidence isn’t that it’s causing a lot of risk so far…
But can you name the team? I can’t, so it was money wasted from my perspective. He’s getting (in)famous, but is hid team? And as a sponsor, would you want to be associated with someone who is regularly DQed.
When Campenaerts does this stuff we find it endearing, when Van Schip does it he’s a weirdo and he should ‘ride a normal bike’. Why is that? Because one is popular on Instagram and the other isn’t? That’s the only difference I see. Both are trying to go faster by being smart, finding ways to be more aero or save more watts, within the rules and play field outlined by the UCI.
Nothing Van Schip does is illegal. He knows the UCI rules better than any commissair. His seat post was allowed by the UCI, he had it in writing, he rode with it in previous races. Het got DSQ’d for it. The hands on handlebar position that he got fined for was used by Vingegaard in the Giro just a few weeks precious. UCI had no issue with it then. The bottle in shirt het got DSQ’d over recently is not allowed by the UCI, but that particular rule only takes effect as of the 1st of July, 2026.
When the rules are no longer being enforced equally and consequently this stops being a sport and it becomes solely an entertainment product. Might as well watch WWE.
Nothing to add about Van Schip that hasn’t been said. But why does it seem he’s targeted vs someone like Campenaerts? Impossible to say from afar, but I suspect that Campenaerts may be pretty even-keeled, and easy going in his approach with the UCI. Comments made by Van Schip give me the impression that he may be a tad confrontational and unwilling to take the BS that’s dished out by the UCI. Being viewed as a troublemaker just fuels the fire, even if the person is not that way.
If Van Schip did switch to gravel, no doubt he’d look for ways to boost his performance anywhere he could find the edge. Yet I would wager he’d find a way to piss off people in gravel, also.
I don’t think either Demi or Wiebes “forced” their way off that team. They were both clearly ready for more, and if the team just hung on to them until the end of their contracts the team would have lost them for nothing.
The point of the rules is to keep bikes and their riders looking like they did in the 1960s. That’s why Van Schip keeps getting punished and Campenaerts doesn’t. Van Schip “looks funny.”
