Several riders retired during the 2015 season. One of them is Thomas Dekker who ended a turbulent pro career with a failed Hour Record attempt in February. In a lengthy interview with Wielerflits, the Dutchman reflects on his first year as a bike rider.

Thomas Dekker (31) was born in the small northern Dutch village Dirkshorn. The area is characterized by a lot of water and is completely flat. That’s where Dekker developed his cycling skills in the strong winds on the open roads of North Holland. "I was eleven years old, it must have been around 1995. I got my first road bike for my birthday," recalls Dekker. "It was mainly because my father was a cycling fanatic."

"The first few years I did not do a lot," he continues. "I lived in a small village where I was playing football and tennis. In the winters, I skated. For the latter sport we should always train on the bike in the summer. For us it was always Friday evening. We rode 50-60km. With young boys you will naturally get some competitions. We made small races in our neighborhood. I started to like and I applied for a license from the National Federation in 1998. But the biggest incentive was my father.”

In the youth categories, Dekker managed to win a race. When he joined the newcomers category, he became more serious and  Dekker started to do the small classics of around sixty kilometers. "In races in the Netherlands with many flat roads, the final sprint is often decisive. I always had a lot of fun and also became better every year. But I only really started to do well when I was a junior when you are 17 years old. I’m born in September so all the season I was sixteen. That year (2001, ed.) I did my first Worlds in Lisbon.”

In 2002 Dekker was even stronger. He finished second in the World Cup for juniors, beating riders like Vincenzo Nibali and Matti Breschel. "I think I was the best in the world in my age group in 2002. I did sixty races, won 22, was second nine times and third nine times. So I was on the podium in 40 races.”

"That year I did 12 time trials and won ten. I was fourth at Worlds but that was after a crash two weeks earlier. I broke seven teeth hit my head. Unfortunately, it cost me the world title." However, that meant nothing for Rabobank because Dekker made the transition from the junior team to the U23 team at the end of the year.

Dekker had no trouble making the jump. “At that time I had a lot of confidence. I was one of the best juniors. I made the move and won similar races in the U23 ranks. Two stages in the Ster Elektro Tour against the pros and I beat in the prologue. I was third in the road race at the World Championships in Hamilton. I had made the step to the world leaders in the U23 races and also won professional races. There are not many first-year riders who can do that.”

"The best moment of the season is still the bronze medal at the World Championships," says Dekker. "The prologue of the Ster Elektrotoer was a nice surprise. But to be third at the World Championship as a first-year U23 is very special. My mother and my aunt were there. In the final lap, I rode across to the leading group with Markus Fothen and we sprinted for the victory. Sergey Lagutin won ahead of Johan Vansummeren and I was third. Those are nice things .At that time I was mainly one for the GCs: strong in the time trial and a good climer. Really an all-round rider.”

In 2004 Dekker started his season by riding against the process in the Tour of the Algarve. In a time trial over 24 kilometers, the then 19-year-old Dekker was nineteen seconds behind winner Lance Armstrong, at that time the best rider in the world. "That was awesome! In the time trial I caught seven riders. In other words, even someone who had started seven minutes earlier than me. In the overall standings, I finished fourth and Armstrong was fifth. That was the first time I rode with him. When you are so close, it's something very beautiful for a young rider."

It proved to be a harbinger of a great season during which Dekker won pretty much everything. "If I look at the next part of that year, I won fairly easily almost everywhere," says the North Hollander. "I made my debut at the Olympic Games in Athens. For me it was very special. I was selected by national coach Gerrie Knetemann. His daughter (Roxane, ed.) rode in the same club, WV Alcmaria Victrix in Alkmaar, so I knew Gerrie well. Not much later I was twice second at the U23 World Championships in Verona, both in the road race and in the time trial. Again more had been possible because I had crashed two weeks earlier. I won the prologue in the Tour de l'Avenir, but I crashed on my head the next day and lost four teeth. "

"As there were no races in the U23 category before the Worlds, I rode as a stagiaire with Rabobank," he says about his preparation for Verona. "I made my debut in the Rheinland-Pflaz Rundfahrt and one day I ride in a leading group with Danilo Hondo. Erik Dekker was also there. At one point, I jumped away and took a solo win. The last race before Verona was the Coppa Sabatini in Italy where I was sixth. Jan Ullrich won, and was flanked by Franco Pellizotti and Michael Boogerd on the podium.

"The Worlds was a big disappointment. I had won everything that season and then I got second twice. In the time trial Janez Brajkovic beat me, Nibali was third. That was a huge disappointment, because I had won all the TTs I had done that year. During the road race there was a leading group with Domenico Pozzovivo and Kanstantin Siutsou which I tried to join at the end of the race. In the last lap they were actually too far away, although I still managed to catch Pozzovivo with Mads Christensen. Twice second at Worlds is obviously a very high level, but it was a shame there was no rainbow jersey that year. I also think that there has never been a U23 rider in the Netherlands with my results,” he says.

As a logical consequence of the successful 2004, Dekker moved up to the professional team at Rabobank. Besides the already mentioned results, he had won the final standings in Olympia's Tour, the Tour de Normandie, the Thüringen Rundfahrt U23, the Oberösterreich Rundfahrt and Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux as well as stages in the same Belgian stage race and the Tour of the Pyrenees. He was also Dutch elite champion (as a U23) and with Koen de Kort he won the pair time trial GP Eddy Merckx.

"At the time, Dutch cycling was Rabobank," Dekker says about his move. "I was the big U23 rider of the Netherlands and very early I knew that I could become a professional at Rabobank. With the other teams, I did not even have a conversation. In the team, I already had quite a lot of respect, because that year I won four race. Immediately I did my first grand tour at the Giro d'Italia and was fifth and eighth in the long time trials.”

In March Dekker won a mountain stage in the Critérium International, beating riders like Ivan Basso, Denis Menchov and Michael Boogerd. "Jörg Jaksche, Bobby Julich," he immediately adds. "At that time you do not really realize what it does to you. When I look at it now, it was obviously awfully special. But at that time I was so impatient that I actually lived from race to race. Therefore I didn’t give it much thought. For a young rider now, it would have been very special.”

Not much later he started the Giro d'Italia as a 19-year-old neo-pro. "I do not think it was too early", says Dekker. "Perhaps I should have done something else, but physically I did quite well. Whether I would have done the same? Maybe it could have been done differently. Perhaps I should have been slowed slightly down by a strong management team, but who could do that at that time. No one who could touch me and say, 'This is going to be a long-team plan. That's the only bad things. You can never change things from the past. If that had been possible and you see all these results ... then the whole doping story was of course not necessary. I won all those races without doping.”

In the remainder of that season Dekker claims to have been clean. His young body was recovering well from his efforts in the Giro (75th in the overall standing), and he did a strong autumn season. As a neo-pro Dekker finished fourth in the Eneco Tour, he won a stage and just missed the podium in the Tour of Poland and was fifteenth in the Worlds road race won by Tom Boonen in Madrid. "If you look at it now, it is not a normal path. But it was all just like that. I recovered well and had absolutely no trouble with the physical strain. In retrospect, the only thing I regret is that I should have been a little quieter myself and should have had stronger guidance.”