Niki Terpstra boasts an incredible pedigree on the road but is now taking on the world’s most famous mountain bike race
Three-time Dutch road champion and 2012 team time trial world champion Niki Terpstra was one the best classics riders of his generation – a generation that included the likes of Fabian Cancellara, Tom Boonen, and Peter Sagan.
In a professional career spanning 17 years, he rode for three of the top teams in the world, including Milram, Total Direct Energy, and the legendary Wolfpack, and won both the Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix.
Now, only months on from his retirement, Terpstra, 38, is up for his next challenge: the 2023 Absa Cape Epic, where he joins a host of other international road cycling greats tackling the African Untamed MTB race.
“I still love to race bikes and I wanted to do some other things. When I was still on the World Tour it was difficult to combine different disciplines, especially with the Absa Cape Epic clashing with the classics season.
“This the most iconic mountain bike race and it’s always been on my mind to do it, from long ago.”
Now, with a little more space in his diary, he jumped at the chance to ride the Epic, which this year takes place from 19-26 March.
“I have been on a gravel racing programme and that’s my focus, but it’s nice to make time for mountain biking also. I followed the Absa Cape Epic on social media and saw all the landscapes … the idea that you can go places where you can’t get to by car or on foot.”
Terpstra took up mountain biking by accident – literally.
While still at the peak of his powers in June 2020, he was out on a training session motor pacing and was forced to swerve to avoid a flock of geese. He hit a rock and ended up in the ICU.
“I recovered but was not like I was before. I wanted to compete again at the very highest level at the classics and WorldTour. In the beginning, it was a little frustrating, in fact, it was very frustrating. I wasn’t the captain of the team anymore...
“But there was a point at which I decided not to be frustrated about it anymore. I realised I just love cycling and I should enjoy it. I could take the races as they came, and in another role and help others win.”
It was during this recovery period that he looked to other types of cycling to get back in the saddle. He soon got in touch with Gosse van der Meer, a pro mountain biker and cyclocross rider, who was keen to race Transalp.
“But this was two weeks before the race and I didn’t have a mountain bike. I called the sponsors to see if they could help and two days before the race I had a bike, and we did it.”
By his own admission, Terpstra is not the best mountain biker but is taking the role of “learner driver” in the team.
“We have people around us who know a lot about mountain biking, especially the technical side, like Gosse. Our plan is usually that I follow him on the singletrack, and he will sit my wheel on the flats.
“I am going to compete to the maximum of my ability. I am not a mountain biker and the best in the world go to ride the Absa Cape Epic, and they are so much better than me on the technical stuff. I just want to do the best I can.”