A few years ago, Graat sustained an injury while playing football and took up cycling. Because of the pleasure that cycling gave him, he kept at the sport. “When I got a taste of cycling in 2018, I was sold. I thought it was fantastic. After that it went quite quickly and I switched to the Streetjump Development Team thanks to the guidance of the RTC Wielrennen of Limburg Cycling. From there, contact with Jumbo-Visma Development Team came about. I am very happy with the step I am about to take. I have been able to train with the team a number of times and I have had positive impressions. There is a good atmosphere and the guidance is top notch. I hope to benefit from that in my development in the coming years.”

Current Norwegian junior champion and cross-country skier Strand Hagenes wants to develop as a road cyclist with his new team. “My dream is to become a professional cyclist and I think this team is the perfect place for that. When I look at the other Norwegians in the squad, I think this squad is perfect for me too. I think Johannes Staune-Mittet and Tobias Foss are having a great time here. I’m happy that I get the chance to improve here. In recent years, despite the lack of races, I have always been able to develop myself well by training. Hopefully I can continue that development.”

Robbert de Groot, Head of Development at Team Jumbo-Visma, is looking forward to working with the two talents. “We are very happy to have these talents on our development team. Tijmen is a climber type who we have taken along on training camps before. We think he is a very interesting rider. We hope he can show himself in the remaining junior races in the coming months. Per is also a very talented rider. He is a super strong boy who tends to be a rider for the classics, but of course he still has to develop and we are going to help him with that. He has an athletic background from cross-country skiing, but he now he is going to focus on road cycling. Hopefully we can also let him take steps in his development. Both boys will make their first kilometres in the U23 peloton next year and we are really looking forward to that.”

The two juniors will join their new team for the next two weeks during the training camp in Slovenia, where the development team is preparing for the second half of the season.