One of the several riders to have made the step up to the WorldTour through the Team dsm-firmenich pathway, Tobias has spent two years with the Development program ahead of embarking on his journey as an elite professional cyclist with the Men’s program.
That journey had its beginnings from a young age with Tobias getting into the sport because of his older brother, who cycled before him. Tobias and his parents would go to watch his brother’s races and like any young sibling who wanted to emulate their older sibling, Tobias bugged his parents and got his first bike aged five. He competed in his first mountain bike race at six, track riding as a seven-year-old, before taking part in road races aged eight.
Funnily enough Tobias did try his hand, or feet, at football but that foray only lasted one week before he didn’t go training because it was “raining too much”, which he now jokes as a pro cyclist seems like a weird reason. In fact, Tobias admits he didn’t like cycling more than any other sport when he was younger but he “just liked winning, so that’s why I did it”, so eventually he dropped his judo and karate to fully focus on cycling, not looking back since.
Thankfully for Tobias, he now actually enjoys all aspects of cycling and at the time when this bio was conducted, he was itching to get back on the bike after having only been three days into his off season.
“I can now enjoy the grind and I really like that feeling of being tired after a session or a block of training and racing, when you know you’ve put in some really hard work. That tiredness is rewarding.”
Describing himself as “relaxed”, “fun” and “competitive” – Tobias thinks those things help him be the rider and person he is, although he jokes that sometimes he can be too competitive, which is backed up by his claim that he is the best FIFA player in the professional peloton. He says that competitiveness properly fires him up for racing and training, to keep on pushing to be the best. Whereas he can relax too, meaning he doesn’t rush anything and can stay calm during the hectic moments, something that Tobias thinks is really important.
Looking ahead to the coming years, the step up in level isn’t something that makes Tobias nervous as he’s already had the chance to ride with a lot of the guys in 2022 who he’ll be racing alongside in the 2023 campaign.
“Everything is the same between the Development and Men in terms of how we do things in the team, so that will make things smoother. To be there already in races and help the guys to some good results would be great.”
When he’s not out on his bike, you can find Tobias vibing to some old school hip-hop, playing paddle tennis with his friends or trying to become the aforementioned undisputed FIFA king in the peloton. If you’re lucky, he might even play you a song on the piano which he’s trying to learn at the moment.
