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)