Monday marks the start of a new season for Daan Hoole, as he lines up at the UAE Tour. The opening day will likely feel a little strange: for the first time, the tall Dutchman will be wearing the colours of Decathlon CMA-CGM, after a strong spell with Lidl-Trek. IDLProcycling.com spoke with Hoole ahead of his first race for the team.
Hoole didn’t just change teams this winter — he also moved home. He now lives in Monaco, where the weather is a touch kinder for cyclists (and, as he joked, for Formula 1 drivers and badminton players too) than it is back in Zuidland. A bonus: he can also polish up his French just by living there.
“It’s going well with the team,” he said at Decathlon’s January training camp. “It’s different, but in a way the work is obviously still the same: you’re still a cyclist and you still have to train well, eat well and recover well. The biggest difference is that you have to get to know a lot of new people.”
Whenever a rider changes teams, the obvious question follows: what’s the main difference? “At Lidl-Trek you had a lot of Italian influence, which is a really fun culture, while here it’s more French,” Hoole explained. “Although I have to say it’s also pretty international, especially among the sports directors. So you get used to it quickly.”
In December, IDLProcycling.com spoke with Mads Pedersen and sports director Steven de Jongh, and both said how much they regretted losing “Daantje” at Lidl-Trek. “That’s nice to hear — that they appreciate me like that,” Hoole said. “On the one hand it was also a shame to leave, because I had a really good connection with everyone and had built up a lot of friendships.”
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Hoole up front for Lidl-Trek: a familiar face.
Hoole was at a crossroads for a long time
Hoole didn’t take the decision lightly. “I stood at a crossroads for a long time and it definitely wasn’t an easy choice,” he admitted. “Even after I made the choice, I still had doubts at times. I’d decided before the Giro, but then we suddenly won six stages and I won that time trial. That was the best race I’ve ridden so far.”
So what ultimately made him commit to the move? “It just seemed fun to start this project with Olav, Cees and Robbe, and the freedom I was offered in the Classics appealed to me,” Hoole said. “On top of that, I also got the right opportunities in time trials.”
Kooij — unfortunately not racing the UAE Tour — and Hoole have known each other for a long time. “I always rode with Roel van Sintmaartensdijk, and he’s one of Olav’s best friends,” Hoole explained. “We never raced together as first-years and juniors because there’s three years between us. But with the U23s we did World Championships together, and the same at elite level. We’re also from the same area.”
Character-wise, Hoole says his new sprint leader is very different from his former leader Jonathan Milan. “Olav doesn’t get rattled easily — that’s different to Milan,” he smiled, backing up the contrast between the laid-back Dutchman and the more extroverted Italian.
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Daan Hoole for his new team.
Hoole can chase spring chances alongside riders like Benoot
Hoole also made it clear he expects more freedom at his new team. What does that look like in an ideal scenario? “The spring is very different,” he said. “As a domestique it doesn’t matter if you burn more energy, because you’re naturally focused on where Mads and Jasper are. Of course we also have several strong riders now and it won’t all be for me, but at Lidl-Trek it was more about the absolute leader.”
“Last year I was already allowed to ride a bit more in the finale, and I really liked that,” Hoole continued. “In the Tour of Flanders, with the climbs, it’s very difficult, but in Roubaix I think I can get quite far. Last year we were sprinting for a top ten and I finished 17th, but before that I’d spent a long time on the front for Mads.”
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Daan Hoole in the Forest of Wallers.
Hoole set for first Tour de France appearance
We may also see Hoole in races like the Baloise Belgium Tour and the Renewi Tour. “If there’s a time trial, I’ll try to ride for the general classification as well,” he said. “That’s something Paul Barrett is responsible for at Decathlon, and they’re really working on it within the team. If I reach the level I had last year, I could be in the mix for wins again. That would be really nice.”
To help that process, Hoole has already spent time on the track to fine-tune details. “Improving aerodynamics is very difficult, because regulations bind you,” he explained. “But in terms of training I can still improve. That’s worked every year, and that’s the line I want to keep going.”
And there’s another big upside: after his reliable work in the Giro and Vuelta, we should normally see Hoole riding the Tour de France for the first time this year. So in July 2026, the tall Dutchman won’t have time for badminton anymore. “I’ve done the Giro and the Vuelta now, so it’s logical that you really look forward to that first Tour.”