Daan Bakelaar

It all started with a balance bike at the age of 1. I went through two balance bikes, I rode those bikes so much that the wheels broke off. When I was 2 1⁄2 years old, I had my first real bike. I learned pretty quickly. When I was 6 years old, I got my first mountain bike. I would mountain bike with my father on the trails near my home. When I turned 7, I joined the mountain bike club in Harderwijk. There I began to learn more about mountain biking. The time flew by and step by step I got better and I made more progress. In the winter of 2020, I started at Mountain Bike Club Bar-end in Apeldoorn.

A year later I got selected for the Bike Academy. A part of Bar-End where mountain bikers receive training to be a better athlete. My greatest success was finishing 3rd at the Dutch National Championships (year). Last summer in 2022, I was selected for this cool mountain bike team, Bar-end Ghost Junior Team. I am very happy to be a part of this team. I think I am going to learn a lot and have a lot of fun.

DAAN'S HIGHLIGHTS

2023
2nd Overall 3 Nations Cup U17
1st Overall Veluwse Wintercompetitie
3rd XCO Berlicum
2nd XCO 3 Nations Cup Vam
2nd XCO 3 Nationscup Sittard
10th UEC MTB Youth European Championships XCC U17
2nd UEC MTB Youth European Championships XCO 15m
2nd XCO 3 Nations Cup Winterberg U17