Development Team Sunweb’s Nils Sinschek is perhaps a very untypical Dutchman. Rather than excelling in sprints, crosswinds and Classics, he excels when the road tips upwards.
Nils is heading into his final season as an U23 in 2020, and we had a long chat on the phone with Nils a week in between two surgeries for removal of his wisdom teeth. But aside from that, all is well with Nils and he is highly motivated ahead of his final crack at this level.
“In 2018, I was racing at club level in the Netherlands before joining Development Team Sunweb for 2019. In the first moments at this level, I did need some adaptation, but I already had a very high base level ahead of the first team camps, and I knew I was far from the worst guy on the team and could push with the best. The team decided to wait a bit before I raced, so it was March/April before I began to really race. My season was split into two parts. Up to June was really good, I was in the break in my home race, the Volta Limburg Classic, which was really nice, especially when it was only my second race for the team. Then I also had a very nice stage race performance, but I know we will speak about that later! Part two was not bad, but it was not what I wanted and the level was not as high as before. I am not too sure why, but my trainer and I are looking into this.”
It’s common knowledge that the Dutch club level is actually very strong. So strong in fact that Katusha-Alpecin used to offer a stagiaire role to the winner of the season long Topcompetitie for club riders. So to what extent does Nils think his time at club level help him adapt to the high level of racing Sunweb Devo participate in?
“Perhaps Sunweb Devo underestimated how strong the Dutch club level is. The races are so hard to control. The level is not as high as UCI level, but the gap is not as big as you may think. There are a lot of talented guys at club level too.”
Nils, who hails from Limburg, the hilly provence of the Netherlands that plays home to Amstel Gold Race, was fully in agreement with my assessment that he isn’t a typical Dutch style of rider.
“I’m not a typical Dutch rider. My thing is not the stressful battles, the echelons. I can push high watts and ride in them, but my preference is the hills and the mountains. I don’t know if Limburg helped me with that, or if it was pre-determined at birth. But it is nice to live here and have the Ardennes close by as well. But it’s the longer climbs than what we have in Limburg that suit me, as well as TTs. The GC is something I want to try and target in the future. I did well in the one non-flat stage race I did this year. My weakness is explosivity, but my coach and I are training to improve this, and already I feel it is paying off.”
Nils mentioned that one non-flat stage race, the Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc. He was 9th overall. He spoke about his first real experience racing in the real high mountains.
“Savoie was a big season goal for me. The initial plan was do another race in France before Savoie, but university exams stopped me doing that. I was in Girona for a week before the race to train on longer climbs. I really focussed on this race and it was nice it paid off. Day one was the flattest stage, and I was to work for Felix Gall, but it soon became clear he was sick. I wasn’t too fresh the following days after chasing for 110km on day one. Yet everyday I got higher and higher up the GC. I wonder what I could have done if I had been fresher. Given Girona has climbs of 10-15k and Savoie was in the real Alps, my first time racing there, and 20-25km climbs, this was a great result.”
Nils always does well in June, and that is national championships month. After 5th in the 2018 U23 RR, Nils went 3rd in the U23 TT this year. He spoke about his desire to chase the tricolour jersey before he ages out of this category.
“I get closer to the title every year. June is a good month for me, I always seem to go well then. I train harder for the nationals, but then again I expect all my rivals to do the same too. The last few years in Holland, we’ve had some very hot weather, so perhaps I do very well then. Now I look back on the result I am happy. But at the time, eight seconds off the win and not much recovery since it was three days after Savoie, I was gutted. Next year I will aim to climb higher and make it to the top step.”
Given a one-year extension by the team, Nils is now one of the oldest guys on the team, taking on a senior role to a very young roster. He and Jarno Mobach are the only final year guys on the team. For Nils, this is strange, as he has only been on the team one year so far, yet some younger guys like Niklas Markl have been on the team longer.
“Jarno and I are the oldest guys. Yet some guys have been here longer than me and are younger. This is my last year as an U23 and I’m confident I’ll improve physically and tactically. A pro contract is the goal and the dream. The team turned five guys from the devo team pro this past offseason, so the dream is definitely possible. I will do everything I can to achieve my dream.”
Given he has no race program yet, Nils couldn’t be too specific about his goals for the 2020 season. But Mr June is aiming to do well in his favourite racing month, as well as trying to do well in the Ardennes and producing a stronger second half of the year than he did this season.
“I haven’t spoke with the team about my program yet. June will be a target, but I also want to do well earlier in the year. Races like U23 Liege and Fleche Ardennaise take place close to where I live. I want to show myself in stage races, especially those with lots of climbing. I know I can’t be good all year round, it’s impossible, but I’d like a stronger part two of the season, especially looking at Piccolo Lombardia.”
Piccolo Lombardia was a segue into a dark topic. When Nils raced there to end his 2019 season, his teammate Edo Maas crashed into a car on the course on the fabled Ghisallo descent. He would lose the mobility of his legs and be paralysed for life. Whilst not asking about the incident, I asked about how the team has come together to race not just for themselves, but now for Edo too.
“I noticed the full team grew together after the accident. We had a meeting in November for the team, a pre-season get together. We spoke about if for around 90 minutes. It has quite an impact on all the team. We will give our all for him. His life has been flipped upside down. You never want to think about it, but things like that can happen and do happen. That’s the shit thing about our sport.”
Finally, we wrapped up the interview with my typical closing question: asking what Nils’ dream pro win.
“Goal number one is of course to go pro. Then I need to get to the next level and be able to win races. The Tour de France and Worlds are the biggest races on the planet. Let’s see in the next few years what level I can reach.”
Nils Sinschek is a really interesting prospect, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how he performs in the coming year. On top of that, he is a super nice guy too and we had a great conversation. I really think if he climbs like he did in Savoie, he can achieve his dream of securing a pro deal.
U23 Cycling Zone wishes to thank Nils for taking the large amount of time he did to speak with us. We wish him all the best for his last year at this level. We also wish to thank Emily at Team Sunweb for facilitating the interview. You can follow Nils on Twitter at @NilsSinschek.
U23 Cycling Zone 