Team SD Worx has strengthened its sporting staff with the appointment of a new team manager, Lars Boom, who will join on 1 October 2021. Lars Boom has signed a two-year contract with the best women’s team on the UCI ranking.
During the winter months, Boom will focus on coaching cyclocross star Kata Blanka Vas, who has defended the Team SD Worx colours since 1 June this year. The 19 year-old Hungarian is riding for the team as a cyclo-cross, mountain bike and road racer. Boom will accompany her on the two off-road disciplines.
“It is an absolute advantage that Lars Boom has been active in his successful career on the road, the field and on the mountain bike,” sports director Danny Stam indicated. “With his experience he can help Kata Blanka Vas in all disciplines. In the road programme we see Lars fitting into the picture of the technical staff where he will stand alongside Anna van der Breggen and Chantal Blaak. Van der Breggen will take up this position from 1 January, Blaak will still ride the spring classics and will start in her new role on 1 May 2022.”
Stam has seen Boom at work regularly over the past six months: “Lars made a good, fresh impression on me. His enthusiasm and drive struck me. He is always very involved with his riders. We see a lot of opportunities in people who have gained a lot of knowledge in practice and who can be a reinforcement for our technical staff.”
Boom had to think for a while when he received an offer from Team SD Worx. “I had a good time at my previous team. But when the best women’s team in the peloton knocks on your door, it feels like a great and unique opportunity,” Boom said.
“In the last years of my career I combined the three disciplines of field, road and mountain bike. With Kata Blanka Vas we have a young world champion in the field and on the mountain bike. I hope that I can use my experience to help her make further progress. I see it as a rewarding challenge to work with her.”
So in the road programme in 2022, Boom will form the technical staff with Danny Stam alongside newcomers to the team car Anna van der Breggen and Chantal Blaak. “I have also only been a team leader for half a year in the women’s peloton,” Boom says. “I think I can still learn a lot from Danny. I also think it is fun to work with Anna and Chantal, who have experienced everything in women’s cycling, and who will also start a new challenge next year. With my years of experience in men’s cycling, I hope to be able to share a certain vision. We all have different insights into cycling, so we can form a nice duo.”